A Teacher's Glory
by Larry Huss
Summary: "Zest to over-achieve" marks Team 7's entry into the Ninja world. Kakashi teaches lessons better than he imagines. *COMPLETE*
1. Prologue

I do not own Naruto, and receive no profits from it.

A Teacher's Glory

By Larry Huss

_The pink-haired genin cried as the mist slowly covered everything with a film of wetness. The stone with a seemingly endless list of names of ninjas who had died in the line of duty was slick and shiny. She couldn't stop feeling guilty about her part in putting the latest name on the memorial. But being Haruna Sakura, how could she have avoided it?_

"Alright, my cute little students, you each have to get one of these bells tied at my waist. Otherwise going back to the Academy is the best thing that will happen to you. Now, I want you to do your best, so no holding back! If you don't come at me with complete dedication, with the willingness to kill even, you will certainly fail. Do this before the alarm clock rings, or you all fail. And the test starts… Now!"

Kakashi Hatake smiled under his mask. They really were so cute, and so doomed. There was no way he'd have to teach a genin team this year, no matter how talented the Uchiha was or how much smarts the girl was able to show. He'd make sure to fail them; he wanted to avoid any more personal connections to people who would just die on him. Especially Naruto. Every time he looked at the kid it was like seeing a junior version of the Fourth Hokage, seeing Minato again. A person could only take so much pain; best to pass this problem on to some Jonin Sensei next year.

The students (well, two of them) scattered into the surrounding woods. Naruto just backed up a little, and looked right and left to see himself deserted. He shrugged; nothing new about that, was there? He yelled as he jumped in to try to kick the tall Jonin. It was much of a surprise to him when he spent the next few seconds being tossed into the air, and landing hard. The addition of a few Shadow Clones didn't help a lot in getting Kakashi's respect; in fact the grey haired Jonin took out one of his notorious books and began to read it as he fended off each increasingly ineffectual attack.

Finally, the blond boy limped his way out of the clearing. Kakashi sauntered to an isolated tree and sat down under its shade, reading. The quarter of his attention he devoted to checking for his soon to be ex-students was more than enough to detect the Uchiha's stealthy approach. Not bad, even very good for a genin level, but not enough for Kakashi to want to break out of his comfortable pattern of isolation and melancholy. Kakashi played with the boy for a little while, finally leaving him stuck neck-deep in the ground. Then the Copy Nin took a stroll to locate the girl. It wouldn't be fair not to show her how she wasn't nearly half ready for the dangerous life of ninja. Besides, it wouldn't do to break up the set he was going to recommend be sent back for another year's seasoning in school. He wondered, briefly, if his currently mobile students were observing him (if so, at least their concealment skills were up to snuff) with increasing fear. Now, what to do to break the little girl's confidence?

In fact, his other (intended to be) temporary students were nowhere close to the edge of the clearing, but several hundred meters deeper into the woods, having an awkward council of war.

When Sakura had seen Sasuke charge out, the best of his year, using his superlative skills and jutsus that she'd never seen before, she had been certain (for a moment) that his ferocity and dedication would allow him to grab the two bells from the Jonin. Then he would certainly give her one, and they would start their careers together. Together… Oh, and Naruto would be sent back to the Academy until he finally gave up on not only dating her, but being a ninja also. Seeing Sasuke put into the ground like a potted plant had shocked her enough that she hadn't even had the energy to protest when Naruto had grabbed her, pulled her back into the woods, and start asking her rapid-fire questions.

Instead of being the irritating idiot he was usually, or insulting the magnificent Sasuke, he was actually being purposeful. She realized that she was finally seeing Naruto in his prank planning mode, not his jackass prank appreciating period. When he promised to go right out dig Sasuke up she agreed to his scheme, or at least the first part of it. That was why she was currently walking, escorted by a mob of his embarrassingly solid and useful Shadow Clones, to the edge of their current training area, to where it matched up against the fence that surrounded the Forest of Death.

She went through her textbook memories of Flora and Fauna. She noticed the condition of the leaves and soil as she got closer to the boggy section the Forest was located in. She could do this; she wasn't a weak kunoichi. Just because she wasn't the best hand-to-hand fighter in the village, or lacked some family bloodline or hidden jutsu training because of her civilian origins didn't mean she couldn't be great! Being smart was a form of strength also. If she could hold onto her nerve she could help Sasuke pass this test, and he would be sure to appreciate it!

At the tall fence some of the clones began to strip bark off of the trees, and twisting it into crude ropes. Not something worth carrying around, but the stuff would be good enough for limited time they would be using it. Others started gathering dried wood and leaves. When enough of everything was gotten together stones were tied to the ends of the ropes. These were tossed over the top of the fence, keeping the sharp wires up there from catching on anyone trying to cross over. Which, climbing on a living pyramid of Narutos, Sakura did.

Once there, half the Clones also came over and guarded her, and helped on her gathering. There was a regular stream of orange-suited blonds bringing her insects and frogs and other slimy things. Most she rejected, and the others she put in a ragged bag she made by sacrificing part of her outfit. Other Narutos came with offerings of berries, roots, and mushrooms. She selected from these also. If the number of Clones started to shrink over the next hour, she really didn't notice as she began to put her part of the Plan together in her mind. Finally, she had to admit that more stuff wasn't likely to help than what they already had, and walked back with her diminished bodyguard to the fence, and was hauled over with her booty. She never thought about the fate of the Clones that had disappeared earlier, or questioned why the ones that had gone over the fence with her and survived ran back into the forest. There were enough to carry everything that would be needed, and that was all that mattered to her.

Kakashi Hatake finally had to pursue his errant students into the woods. Letting them fail the test just because the clock ran out was simply not amusing enough. Only rubbing their faces in their abject inadequacy had a hope of changing their minds about the romance of a career as a ninja. He could tell he just wasn't getting through to them; except for the Uchiha's first series of attacks there hadn't been any real trace of Killing Intent noticeable all day. They all, including Minato's kid, were just too lacking in real passion to ever be very worthwhile as ninjas. Well, except for the Uchiha, and he was an obvious psycho. Ending up as "eccentric" was a fate for almost every ninja, but when someone started out as messed up as Uchiha Sasuke you had a case of Missing Nin, Class S criminal, staring you in the face, best to avoid the whole thing. Fail him out of ninja program, and let him become a rich playboy with many paternity suits on his record, promising the Sharingan would be plentiful in the next generation.

When the Jonin finally caught up to his students they were waiting for him, dispelled Shadow Clones had been keeping track of his advance and passing on messages. Kakashi couldn't, for the life of him, understand what they had been doing wasting their time preparing to meet him deep in the woods were it would be difficult for Naruto to use his clones en masse and Sasuke to use his most powerful fire jutsus. True, the ability to keep dodging behind things as they threw poorly aimed kuni and senbon at him was smart, but he hardly had to dodge in any case. He vaguely noticed the little piles of disgusting trash lying about on the forest floor; perhaps the foolish girl had tried to use witchcraft on him? What were they teaching kids these days?

When the Uchiha suddenly started to throw little bursts of flame at him, Kakashi only felt embarrassment. They were weak, small, and were landing well short of his feet. He stopped for a moment to consider things as the forest floor smoldered. It almost seemed to him like they were acting like they were winning. Umm, it was true that they were finally acting like a team, but their plan and its execution were both completely incompetent. As soon as he felt like it he would dash up to them and do pleasant brutality to their childish behinds. Would the girl's be nicer? Probably, but nothing could ever match how Jiraiya Sensei had described Ayumi-chan's in volume seven of the series. Ah, there was also a picture of her on page 124, wasn't there? Beautiful, and no emotional involvement in any of the characters in Make-Out Paradise, the girls in it were safe… These pesky students were so inept, even when they finally hit him with a senbon needle it hardly felt like anything at all. It had been a long day, he decided, he'd just sit down here, read a chapter or two, and let them come to him. Yes, sit down, and stretch out, and dream of Ayumi-chan's perfect…

The genin waited a moment longer before dousing the fires between them and their Jonin instructor. They carefully used earth to do the job, keeping upwind of the fumes coming from the mixed piles of fungi, toxic leaves and berries, and the skins of several types of poisonous toads and frogs. When it was safe they approached the still twitching body on the forest floor, a dozen poisoned senbons protruding from his face and arms like quills from a hedgehog. A Clone gingerly lifted the bells from his belt, and after they left the immediate area they washed them thoroughly with water from their canteens.

Eventually, Uchiha Sasuke brought up what was on all their minds. "Two bells, three people. Who gets sent back to the Academy?"

Though not wanting to lose any of the romantic ground she was sure she had gained with him, Sakura hesitantly semi-disagreed with his point. "Do we have to tell the 'one each' part? Couldn't it be that he said if the team got the bells, it passed?"

"Are you trying to say that ninjas are supposed to be sneaky and lie and stuff?" Naruto asked.

A slow smile crossed each of their faces. Sasuke admitted to himself that he might have been put on a worse genin team than this one. Even if a fangirl, Haruna had some uses. And, surprisingly, Uzumaki had come up with a decent plan. If he used them properly he might be able to make up for some of the advantages his brother Itachi had gotten by being born first.

Sakura was sad about how this had ended, but she had always been an obedient pupil, and Sensei _had_ told them to hold nothing back. And at seventh and last, she could tell she had impressed Sasuke, putting her way ahead of Ino in the romance game.

Naruto decided not ask Sakura out for a date as they were walking back, it was so nice and pleasant them all being together like this, he didn't want to risk her not understanding how much he really liked her. They should probably report back to the Hokage Tower now, he decided. They would need a new Sensei, and that was where the decision would come from anyway.

_There had been a little notoriety, of course. Not many genin teams managed to kill their Jonin Sensei on their first day, and that on purpose. It had taken several weeks before a new one had been appointed. The other genin teams had seemed a little leery of them; so Team Seven had gotten into the habit of meeting each day to train with each other. Sasuke had become their Taijutsu master, and had already helped both Naruto and Sakura improve their respective technique and stamina. Sakura had gotten Iruka-sensei to give them Chakra control and other (non-combat) jutsu information, she had the best control of them all and was their Master in that field. Naruto had been teaching them the reasons behind his success as a prankster: intense powers of observation, endlessly practiced stealth, and to always have at least two alternative routes of retreat from an engagement._

_ Today they were at the monument to Konoha's fallen heroes, standing with the Hokage in the mist. Only them and an attractive but trashily dressed kunoichi. What business was it of hers to be there while they honored, each in their own way, the Sensei that had made them a true team? And why was she smiling that strange, strange smile?_

It has been said that a teacher's true glory is in his student's achievements.


	2. Chapter 1

I do not own, or receive any benefits from the Naruto properties.

A Teacher's Glory: a Union of Rejects: Chapter 1

By Larry Huss

_She wasn't going to mess this up. Not many people gave her a chance; the Hokage (bless his tired old heart) was giving her what would probably be the only break she'd ever get. He'd even given her advice: "Run them till they're dragging, and then make them think till they bleed through their ears." Good stuff, though she would have preferred the bleeding to be a bit more general in nature. She would have to remember to totally dominate them, never let up. There was enough proof that to take them for granted was likely to be a fatal mistake._

"I'm Mitarashi Anko; call me Anko-sensei and we'll get along. I'm going to be your Jonin-sensei, at least partially because the others without teams are a little scared of you. They don't understand that being just a little scared is really underestimating what you really can do.

"I've read all your files, and Kakashi's autopsy. Good work on that, but you have to realize that killing him was a mark of your weakness and inexperience. If you were strong you could have taken him prisoner and gotten everything you wanted in a much neater way. I'm going to make you capable of mercy. Mercy is the gift of the strong. Now, go up to the walls and take three laps around the town. On the first lap look down at the inner parts, and start to memorize them. On the second look out to the surroundings, and see the tactical possibilities. On the third lap I'll be making your life interesting… try not to fall off the walkway. Go!" As the genin trotted off they saw their new teacher skipping along, juggling a seemingly endless number of kunai.

Uchiha Sasuke gave a tentative approval of their new Sensei. She seemed to be paying attention to them, she wasn't all fidgety when they looked at her… like some of the other prospective Sensei had been… and she had given them a clue at what she wanted them to do. Making them strong; that was a program he could get behind.

Haruno Sakura was very dubious about their new Jonin Sensei. There were streetwalkers who dressed more modestly, she seemed indifferent to the shame Team Seven had brought on themselves by killing Hatake Kakashi, and she had criticized what the girl felt was their crowning (if embarrassing) achievement as ninjas, the perfect takedown of a Jonin opponent. Honestly, Sakura knew she was a bit conflicted about the whole Kakashi thing. Anyway, Anko-sensei had as good as told them that the only reason she was teaching them was that no one else wanted to bother; it wasn't pleasant to be told that one little mistake had sent Sasuke-kun and her down to Naruto's level in everyone's opinion.

Uzumaki Naruto just didn't know about their new Jonin-sensei. The good part was that she didn't seem to care about their past much; Naruto realized that he had a lot to live down, and a lot of ground to make up. On the other hand being family-less and pretty much friendless he had wandered into a lot of weird places in town the last few years, had hidden and heard a lot of stuff most people his age never got to, that's how he knew that there was supposed to be something-or-other off about her. Well, at least she was doing their training run with them, not sitting around in the shade and not telling them anything. Come to think of it, she was doing two types of training right now, wasn't she? Getting them warmed up and conditioned while she had them studying the lay of the land, just like he had tried to get the emo and the fan-girl to do when he showed them how to do infiltration and escape. Maybe she'd do, after all.

_As much as she hated to use his ideas, Anko had to admit that getting this bunch all pointed in the same direction was going to need some of Sensei's techniques. But she wasn't going to seduce and abandon them, uh-uh! She'd never do that to innocent kids, and these ones were innocent, just totally screwed up. The biggest problem was the Uchiha, of course. It was heartbreaking to see how scared he was, and how he thought he had to do everything alone. What had Itachi __done__ to him?_

_Well… she couldn't undo the past, though if enough clues came up perhaps Kurenai-chan could do something. For now, though, she'd start them on a ten-day cycle, twelve hour days. Nine days running them ragged, and one for "personal development". Let's see if a month or so doing that straight will get them in shape for some real training!_

Each tenth-day, Haruno Sakura lay in bed all morning, luxuriating in the feeling of not doing everything on the double. Then, just about the time her legs finally stopped feeling like they had been beaten by hammers for the last nine days, Anko-Sensei would come around in the later afternoon and have her walk around town to shop and (almost) flirt for several hours. Both of them had to be all dressed up as ladies, and had to walk and tone their voices as if they were useless pampered female pets. Kunoichi training had never been like this before. As their training cycle hardly ever matched up with those of the other genin squads, the only time she saw her female fellows (read that as 'rivals') was when the unrecognizably decorative pair of ladies happened to go by , at a sedate pace, where the other teams were training. As if whatever Ino was doing could be considered training anything but her voice. Contrasting what her team was doing compared to the other girls (except for Team Guy, who proved that Anko-Sensei wasn't insane in her level of training after all) made Sakura feel motivated, and ready for the next nine days.

Each tenth-day Uzumaki Naruto was woken up late (nine o'clock) by Anko-oneesan. She was only called that when they were off-duty, and after a number of painful reminders he never forgot that. She was often a little hung-over, and he would make them a light breakfast with stuff she'd bring. It wasn't ramen, but under her directions he did find the tastes of the things he made interesting. She had him use all the camping skills and jutsu that you could do in an apartment, so it wasn't a waste of time at all. She was the one who figured out that he should use a henge to conceal how he looked on a daily basis, and that let him shop at a better class of place, it also meant his shrinking savings would last longer. Once he told her how he could remember what his Shadow Clones had done, once they dispelled, she was able to tell him how to use them to study and make up for a lot of the stuff he had slept through at the Academy. Just the important stuff, not all that history and math and things. When he said that he would start making a hundred at time, so he could hurry things along, she had shown him what happened if he tried to use them in battle and a bunch were taken out all at once. It was only twenty that she "killed" in a second, but he still fell to the ground, holding his head and screaming. She was real nice, and even got him some pain-killers before he could get himself able to talk again to ask for them.

On tenth-day Uchiha Sasuke would be up early, practicing his Taijutsu. He figured he got more than enough physical conditioning the other nine days of the cycle. Hours were spent punching a post, until splinters flew and blood covered the exposed wood. At least until the time Sensei came into the Uchiha compound, where he lived alone, and none of the other villagers came because if there was one place in all of Konoha that should be haunted, it was there. First she had just stood in front of him, and dared him to hit her, to see if his new speed and power mattered against someone who had spent more years than he had been alive improving themselves. That turned out about as well as he expected it to: disastrously. That didn't do much to make him respect her. Next she told him to show her how fast he could do hand seals, in his current state, and he couldn't make his battered and twitching fingers do much of anything. Then she told him about balance, and flexibility, and that more wasn't better; enough was. Finally, as she bandaged his hands and told him to go easy with them at tomorrow's training, she told him about Itachi (who had been in ANBU when she had been doing some work for them). After all, she told him, it was important to know your enemy. After that he welcomed her visits, even though she was a lot less focused than during the rest of the training cycle. She always had something interesting to say.

_Naruto had to admit that he was getting a more varied style of training than he had expected. Climbing trees two different ways, with and without chakra, for instance. Something she called "skating" that you could do on water, even if it wasn't frozen (he knew that water could get hard, he had seen ice cubes, after all). All the little housekeeping chakra techniques she had him do seemed to have sped up how fast he could do jutsu, and making even sloppy storage scrolls sure helped when they camped out or when he had to take out the trash. He wasn't sure if all of this was going to help him become Hokage, but when he finally got a chance to talk with the others from his class that had passed their Genin tests he saw his team was at least just as advanced in jutsu use, despite having had a Sensei for a shorter time._

Mitarashi Anko didn't like D-ranked missions. After you get through the social service and team building garbage it was really just a way for a Jonin Sensei to take a semi-vacation and get a cut of the Genins' pay for a few months. Team building could be handled better in other ways, and she felt keeping Uzumaki out of the civilians' hair was going to be good enough on the doing social services front. In any case, she wasn't trying to just let her students develop themselves enough so that in a year or so they be taken off her hands and quietly promoted up to doing C and B-ranked missions. She intended in making an impression with her bunch. They might not be ready for the Chunin Exams this cycle, not even the next. But when they did participate they were going to dominate.

Meanwhile, there was the little problem of cash-flow. Uchiha was rich, even if there had been a financial guardian appointed to dole out just enough that he lived without "getting spoiled." Utatane Koharu had gotten that plum, she was probably pulling more out of the accounts than the kid was getting. Management and supervision fees. Politics and payoffs. Still, he wasn't going to starve anytime soon, or go ragged. She figured that Uzumaki wouldn't be getting the Orphan's Support stipend he had been entitled to before he graduated the Academy. He'd need some income, even if the Old Man had arranged some sort of sweetheart deal on his rent. And Haruno was definitely going to need some ego reinforcement to keep her spirits up. She was going to be hurting pretty constantly, until her body was built up enough; shopping sprees on her days off (with a knowledgeable sensei for guidance) would give her more incentive to buckle down. It would also wean her away from being her parents' little girl… that attitude was still holding her back; she just wasn't thinking tough enough.

Six weeks after Team Seven had started formal training they started doing D-ranked missions. Their Sensei selected the quickest ones to do that she could grab a hold of, and she had them burn them off at the rate of two or three a day, twice a ten-day cycle. This continued until she knew that they had logged enough to take care of the unofficial standards needed to be allowed to enter a Chunin exam, then she stopped showing up at the Hokage Tower to chat up and/or bully the Assignment Chunin on duty, except for putting in a claim for a C-rank each day at the office opening. There were, in her opinion, ways to pick up a little cash that were more fun… and more useful also.

"Today we are going to the most overpopulated place in Konoha, and start killing the residents. We'll only be able to do that one day a cycle, so make sure you enjoy yourself while you can. Yes, Haruno?" Evidently some habits didn't die easily; the pink-haired girl was doing her Academy student jumping in place to get her teacher's attention.

"Won't we get in trouble, for killing more people? I mean, isn't that supposed to be ANBU's job?"

"As long as we leave a breeding population we'll be alright, and I've got the Hokage's permission to expand your horizons. Pick up those backpacks, don't break any of the pottery inside, and follow me, in tactical recon mode."

Each of the Genin picked up one of the packs, each inscribed with the logo of **Hajimi's Apothecary.** Two were filled with assorted sizes of bottles, jars and lids, the other had a variety of less fragile instruments of dissection. Then they set off following their teacher, slipping quickly through the crowded streets like fish going quickly up a mountain stream studded with rocks and predators. Their eyes flitted from side to side looking for attackers to the front and sides, their ears straining to catch the sound of someone's fast approaching feet, or a weapon being pulled out of its sheath.

None of them were surprised when they ended up outside a gate in a metal link fence, though why they were there was still a little unclear to the Genin. Though they had worked their way through, day and night, most of the training grounds of the village, and had a better grasp of the layout of all the important routes and landmarks of the town and surrounding areas than almost anyone else in their age group, they had never been (since their initial Genin Test) up against the borders of Training Area 44, the Forest of Death.

"Why are we going into an area that is fenced off from a village of ninja, the deadliest place in the world? Don't be shy, my students!"

Uzumaki smiled. "Because you really hate us and somehow managed to get an insurance policy on us, with you as beneficiary?"

"No, that will be next time; but it was a good guess. Haruno?"

"Sensei, you don't have to lie to us; Naruto nailed it the first time. Or else…it's a survival test…?"

"Getting there, getting there. Uchiha, your turn to stick your foot in your mouth. Or you could think like a clan head; get into the habit while you're still young!"

Hmm. Overpopulated, killing at least one day a cycle…a smile crossed Uchiha Sasuke's face. Of all the useless missions new genin teams could get, it looked like dearest Sensei had gotten them the best.

"There's something in there that's there's too many of, and we're going to change that. "

"Much better," Anko said. "The Forest of Death is incredibly fertile, unnaturally so. But it's still only a bit over 130 sq kilometers in area, and there are limits to how much it can hold before it gets over used and goes into a collapse. Sometimes there's a little 'accident' and the fencing out into the rest of the Land of Fire fails, and a few giant tigers or the like escape. Then there are some C-class missions to fix things. We never even charge for that, just say 'oops,' and let them see what we don't mind living next to. It keeps the civilians outside the village… humble.

"Of course, when they see the giant White Tigers, the Jumping Leeches the size of chickens, or the Rainbow Poison Frogs, what do you think some people think?" With that she leaned over and tapped the backpack Uzumaki was carrying. Haruno actually grunted, and began hopping up and down again, with her hand in the air. Sensei just gave a sigh, a shake of her head, and a slight frown. Sakura blushed with embarrassment when she realized what she was doing, and then leaped into answering.

"Ingredients! Medical stuff! Leech sputum to control blood thickness, Tiger liver for strengthening broth, ground Springing Spiders for nerve tonic…"

"… Bear gall for fever; yes, things like that. And being odd and rare and scary our Forest stuff gets premium prices if it's fresh." A mercenary gleam was in Anko's eyes as she contemplated the prices her team (with her getting the largest percentage, of course) was going to get for the bloody harvest to come. "I've got Mr. Hajimi's shopping list in my pocket, so we'll know what to look for. He's mostly an animal products man, so we're going for two White Tigers, six Striped Weasels, and four Musk Deer today. Leeches also, if we run across them. Find 'em, kill 'em, and pot the pieces we need. Uzumaki makes six clones to scout, Uchiha and the original follow to hold, and then Haruno comes up to help with the kill and do the collecting.

"No clones are to be used in the killing, no fire techniques as they'll ruin the hides. And Haruno, put away those needles, we don't want any poisons to get into the parts we'll be harvesting. It's all going to be blade work, unless you are really confident with wrestling a 400-kilo carnivore. Leave that sort of thing for Mighty Guy's team. And watch out for Drop Bears."

Uzumaki was a bit insulted by the bugaboo Drop Bear comment, and a little puzzled why she didn't want him to just bury those tigers under a clone avalanche. That wasn't what was worrying him, though.

"Sensei, how do you track a weasel in this soggy mess?"

"Be creative, Uzumaki, be creative."

_Naruto discovered that_ _you tracked weasels by disguising yourself with a good henge to look like a Marsh Hare, and then screaming like one in pain. To know how to do that you caught a Marsh Hare… and hurt it. Sakura-chan looked like she was going to heave when he'd stuck it with his kunai, but still she managed to give a good squeal when it was her turn to be bait. Naruto couldn't figure out why Sensei had wanted each of them to take turns being bait, not using clones or other decoys. She'd probably tell him why, if he asked her on the next tenth-day._

_ They didn't get a chance to get to the tigers that day, but the leeches were easy; they attacked the hunters. You just had to get under a tree with suspicious, dark, moving, blotches on the limbs, and they would do all the work. You had to be fast, though, and it __was__ good to have the Uchiha around. He could puff out little bursts of fire and get them to drop off of you before they each took their liter of blood. It was better to be fast, though. _

Hunting White Tigers was a bit more traditional and dignified. A line of Uzumaki went out, each about half-voice range from each other. When one found a pug mark in the mud he called out, and the entire party wheeled in the right direction and swept out in that way until they found their quarry. Which usually quickly sprang on the nearest Uzumaki, and tore it to shreds… or at least dispersing vapor.

That's where the fun began, and the real Uzumaki Naruto (as well as the real Uchiha Sasuke) waded in with kunai drawn and tried to keep the 2.5 meter long (not including the tail, of course; that would have added at least a meter more) and 400 kilo (about the weight of both boys, added together and multiplied by four) top predator from either killing them or breaking contact before their beloved Sensei and other teammate showed up a minute or so later. It didn't really work that well the first two times they tried to do that, and it was a good thing that they would have at least a week before they could get back into the Forest. That would let certain scratches heal (to Sakura's relief none were on the Uchiha's face) and give them a chance to think about things before their next attempt. They also now understood why their teacher had them going after the less dangerous prey first.

Before they went into the Forest the next time, Anko-sensei asked them how they would handle their little tiger problem this time. She immediately rejected Haruno's sheaf of lawn darts wrapped in explosive tags, though she did praise the girl for thinking aggressively. The problem being, of course, if they hit a tiger with one or more of those they would ruin the hide and probably disperse all the interesting internal organs over a very wide area.

Uzumaki seemed to have relapsed to his pranking days; he had brought a big bag of Bang Snaps, the little bundles of paper with a filling that goes off with a harmless but loud 'pop' when stepped on or thrown against something hard. Their Sensei started to laugh when she saw him demonstrate their effect, and that irritated Haruno and Uchiha who thought something a bit more…lethal and dignified should be brought to the table. Sasuke's addition to their armory was certainly more dignified; four yari (spears), each of about two meters from point to butt cap. One had a crescent shaped set of metal horns, about a hands-length long , jutting out from where the blade entered the shaft. The wooden shafts were painted a faded red, and the wood was cracked and dry. Heirloom trophies perhaps, taken off their hooks on some wall in one of the empty and dusty houses that made up the Uchiha District. They were just the thing, in fact, to do a bit of tiger hunting with.

Anko gave her genin a few minutes to sort themselves out, and told them to make any final perpetrations before they went inside. Uzumaki and Uchiha began to practice mighty leaping thrusts backed up by loud shouts. Haruno went behind some bushes, checked for peeping Uzumaki clones, and changed into some rough long sleeved and legged gardening clothing, with the wrist and ankle openings tightly tied off. Leeches, you know. Their Sensei went to a nearby grove of bamboo and cut off two pieces, one long and one very short, and then broke off the shaft of the yari and used the long piece as a new holder for the tarnished blade. Just below the joint of blade and shaft she tied the small piece of bamboo so that it dangled a finger's length or so down from the steel. Then she began to sharpen the edges of her re-hafted weapon.

Their order of march was the same; a Scouting Line about two hundred meters wide, the Holding Group a hundred meters behind them, and the Reserve Force abut fifty meters behind them. As they went further into the living, rotting, oozing ,and overgrown tangle Sakura saw many familiar and useful specimens that she recognized from her first homicide. She began to collect some of them, and soon she and her Sensei were lagging behind as useful examples were being captured, pithed, and the best bits jugged.

That's why when the next faint cry came to them ("We've got one!") the two trailing members of the party were over a half-kilometer behind, and had to abandon all caution to try to catch up. What with the inevitable little distractions that occur when you absolutely, positively, have to be somewhere on time it took them over three minutes to get to the eventual scene of the action, by which time things had resolved themselves.

_In the Forest of Death, unless you're up on one of the ridges leading to the high ground in the center, and you want to go somewhere fast, it's best to just bounce from one tree trunk or branch to the next, and forget about going on the ground. Of course, if you weigh four hundred kilos that gets a bit tricky, so you just bull your way through the underbrush and hope that whatever is following you isn't ninjas, who actually __can__ bounce from trunk to trunk and the like. If it is, sooner or later you end up at bay, in some little clearing; someplace that you can at least see what's coming after you. It isn't often that White Tigers have to run, but as intelligent beasts with no sense of honor, they have no problem doing so when they must, unlike humans. Those get themselves into all sorts of pickles._

It was lashing its tail back and forth, black and white stripes almost flickering in the stripes of shade and light filtering down through the trees as it made little dashes one way and the other, turning about with a little jump each time it stepped on one of Naruto's little Bang Snaps and felt a sting in its paw. The circle of ground he had managed to salt with the noise makers was the limit the beast was willing to go; Sasuke was able to accept that Dead-Last had had finally had a clever idea. Now if he could just get his yari untangled from some branches ten feet up a tree Sasuke would even stop calling him Dead-Last… at least for a day or two.

Sasuke, of course, had the spear with the metal crosspieces; it was obviously the most important and impressive. That is had also been the one from Uncle Masao's house that he had wanted to twirl around since the earliest he could remember was certainly not the reason he had chosen it. Now the only thing he wanted to do was get the blade red, and take another step on his road to vengeance. As the beast looked up at Naruto, and speculated on whether he was in leaping range or not, Sasuke made his move.

Projecting all the Killing Intent someone currently just on the good side of sanity could handle he screamed out his bottled rage and ran at the giant cat. Between the Intent, the yell, and the sound of Bang Snaps popping under the soles of his sandals he managed to attract the attention of the tiger very quickly. It gave more of a hop than a leap, but still managed to get within swatting range of its miniscule opponent, and traded a finger-deep stab into its side for a clawed smash that knocked Sasuke off his feet, and rolled him six times over across the ground, his left shoulder dislocated and the strap of his backpack shredded. He ignored the sound of breaking earthenware coming from pack as the cat pivoted in place and managed to get a modest three meter leap onto where the young ninja had ended up.

For Sasuke, it seemed as if time had slowed; the giant beast slowly left the ground, almost floating in a curve through the air, and starting to descend so that seven or so times Sasuke's weight would soon land on his stomach, while the fanged jaws would be perfectly placed to snack on selected facial features.

With terrifying slowness Sasuke lifted the tip of the yari still held in his right hand, the butt hard-jammed into the earth. The white belly of the beast seemed to offer no resistance to the dull blade, and the body kept on falling in its ballistic curve, though now both the front and rear paws were windmilling comically. Though the finger-length claws, four on each limb, which were coming closer and closer to his body, didn't really seem much of a laughing matter.

Then the body sliding down the steel blade came up against the crosspiece, and stopped. "So, that's what those things are for," Sasuke thought to himself. That's when the two hundred and fifty year old wooden shaft began to creak and splinter under the load.

Suddenly, the gut-pierced body of the tiger pivoted around the wooden pin that held it off of the boy below it. Uzumaki Naruto had arrived, not quite late; having done a head-first dive off of the tree he had just disentangled his spear from, into the flank of the animal. The blade of his weapon went in one side of it, and out the other, and the force of his downward leap had managed to knock the tiger enough to the side that when Sasuke's spear shaft failed completely the slashing rear claws of the animal didn't remove all the skin and flesh from the lower half of the boy's body.

As the tiger began to topple off to the side, Sasuke scrambled with all his speed in the opposite direction, not even bothering to yell in pain when his left shoulder got jarred. The tiger tried to scramble to its feet, and drag itself away, but the combination of one metal blade going completely through its body in one direction, and a spear completely though its hindquarters in another was too much for it. Uzumaki Naruto kicking its hindquarters and yelling at it may also have had something to do with situation. In the end, it died just as Anko and Sakura finally came into the clearing. Oddly enough, Sakura was at least as pale as Sasuke was, despite not having barely escaped being a mattress for a tiger and being seemingly injury-free.

"Hi guys! What took you so long?" Naruto asked.

"D-d-d-d-drop Bear!" Sakura answered, pointing back into the dense and steaming forest.

Mitarashi Anko looked over to her injured student and commented, "You know, that's the first time I've seen you using your Sharingan, Uchiha. Anything exciting happen here?"

Afterwards, Sasuke was careful to recover the head of his spear; he had developed a sentimental attachment to it, and would in the future consider any trip without it (properly repaired) into the Forest of Death to be as poorly prepared for as forgetting to bring sandwiches to a picnic. Naruto thought about the recent successful hunt, looked at Sensei's yari, and re-hafted the one he had, with an added tied-on toggle of tiger bone. It was only afterwards he realized his mistake, and as politely as he knew how, apologized to his Uchiha teammate for not asking permission first. Sasuke gave him a vague wave of forgiveness. He was far more interested in two things; Sakura actually looked kind of… artful when she opened the belly of the beast with a single sweep of her kunai and literally waded right in to start harvesting parts. And… and… and he now had his Sharingan. He was alive, and Sakura was talented, Naruto wasn't Dead-Last (at least for the rest of the day), and he had his Sharingan. All was well with the world. Perhaps he should wear one of the tiger's fangs as an earring? If only he could remember which ear wouldn't send the wrong message.

They bagged their next tiger with a lot less excitement, the biggest problem on that expedition was Sasuke being so enamored of his Sharingan that he kept it active long enough to exhaust his charka supply; having Naruto carry his exhausted form home was a lesson on conserving his resources. Hajimi's order was filled, and on subsequent trips they supplied much the same (with a goodly helping of medicinal and toxic botanicals) to those in the druggist business that hadn't been willing to pay a premium for the first cropping of the Forest in five years as he had. Hajimi made out like a bandit with his two week head start in marketing fresh materials.

Naruto also finally found out what a Drop Bear was. It was on a day when Sasuke was part of the back-up and harvesting team along with Sensei. It wasn't a bear at all, really. Just a carnivorous giant sloth, with a tough hide and the hunting technique of dropping down onto its prey from a well camouflaged arboreal hiding place. A hundred-kilo beast falling ten or twenty meters would generally flatten anything it landed on, while its tough hide made it almost impossible for any but an expert to find any vulnerable spot to stab it meaningfully.

Once it had something smashed into the ground, the Drop Bear would rear up to its two meter height and use its massive front claws to rip major pieces off of its next dinner. If Naruto's scouting clone group hadn't heard his yell on being driven into the muck of forest floor and gang tackled the beast, he would have been in real trouble. Sakura had been doing her best to poke her spear into it, but she just didn't have the muscle or mass for the job.

Eventually, Naruto pulled himself out of the crater, shortly before the last of the clones disappeared under the surprisingly fast slashing claws of the beast, and decided that as they didn't have a requirement for the beast, anything goes. It still took him three tries to get an explosive tag into a vulnerable spot (under the armpit) and do fatal damage. It killed the thing, all right, but it was all for nothing.

The meat was rank and inedible, the organs had no known medical benefits, and even the hide couldn't' be used as armor because it had a stench that no one had ever figured out how to remove. If there were creatures that every bit could be used, the Drop Bear was the opposite. Hence the warnings about it; it was dangerous, ugly, and useless. Best to just avoid it!

When the backup team finally arrived, and finished ducking pieces of falling of Arbora Inertia Horrendum (the Common… or 'Deadly'… Drop Bear) Sasuke took a good look at Naruto and began to laugh uncontrollably. From a line about midbody, front to back, Naruto's face and belly was covered with a shiny layer of oozing brown-black slime, with a number of small, burrowing insects and wormish things trying to wiggle down and back into the ground that they belonged in. Sakura, and even Anko joined in.

Naruto's mouth contracted into a snarl, and he made a half-step toward Sasuke, hand clenched. As he advanced he heard his sandal squish in the ooze, and stopped. He stood there for a moment, brow furrowed, looked at his front side and arms, and then began to laugh himself.

"You… you can rinse off at that pool we saw in the river a half kilometer back," sputtered Sasuke. "Gods almighty, you stink. We'll probably be able to pick up some dead fish from it, after you get in. The only question is will they be safe to eat?"

"Why Sasuke-chan, how can you say something like that about sweet little old me," Naruto said in a cooing voice, and unleashed his Sexy Jutsu on his teammates. A stacked, late-teen blond woman, with wispy clouds covering certain of the most private areas of her body appeared.

_Uchiha Sasuke could never afterwards exactly pinpoint how it actually happened, or how from this point it could have been averted. Perhaps that idiot Hyuga was right about it, some things are just Fate, and there had never been any way he could have averted this. Still, he had never expected ending up standing naked in front of his team and having them give dispassionate criticism of his hips and bust._

From Sakura came a noise of a giant tea kettle, whistling with full power just before it exploded. Sasuke grew very still, and silent, and only his bulging eyes betrayed his reaction.

Anko walked over to her student, and circled around him. It was definitely a superior piece of work; it had a sexy emanation to it that hinted at a sort of minor genjutsu associated with it. She gave a sniff, and snapped out an order.

"Drop the clouds, walk back and forth a few times, and then stop right here again. Next time you use it, those cheek-whisker marks have to go, no debates on that. Students! Examine the henge closely and prepare a critique. And by the way Uzumaki, you still smell.

"And don't think of washing off in that pool. The Giant Freshwater Squid sometimes hangs out there. Nasty!"

Naruto dropped the jutsu, and then reapplied it. On his second attempt the facial markings were gone, but minus the clouds there was a certain lack of detail in the previously cloud obscured portions of anatomy. At the prompting of his sensei's quirked eyebrows and pointing finger, he explained.

"I ain't really seen a lot of…female stuff. Just modeled things off of people swimming or adverts in windows and stuff. So I ain't really that much of a pervert at all, Sakura-chan!"

The girl was mollified, though not completely convinced at that. And it was true that Naruto was evidently ignorant of some of the details that a true Peeping Pervert should have known. Still, he shouldn't be using that technique, anyway!

She was currently completely distracted, though. Giant Freshwater Squid? That should be ecologically impossible; predator-prey ratios, salinity percentages… Anko-sensei must be putting them on, this time! But… she had been telling the truth about Drop Bears…

Sasuke was still impressed by Naruto's general design, though disappointed that he was evidently a bit weak on accurate rendition of the details of feminine form. While wandering through the empty houses of the Uchiha Quarter he had come across (looking under beds and into other hiding places was just good ninja search practice, right?) a number of… illustrated novels. If they were correct in their proportions, every man and woman in Konoha was grossly underdeveloped in their particular… gender-defining characteristics. It seemed that Naruto wouldn't be able to help clear up the question as to what a properly developed woman should look like in her more private areas. Sensei was, at least by Konoha street standard, well put together, but by Make-Out Paradise standards she was still in the "just beginning to bud" stage.

Anko made a decision. There were evidently elements of her students' education that no one else was taking care of. Awkward as it may be, she felt that if parents didn't (and after all, two of her team didn't even have parents) provide the needed information, it defaulted upon her to do so.

"We're knocking off here for the day. We'll drop off what we've collected, and then go right to the **Old Traveler's Bath House** for a good cleaning and a massage. We'll use the Traditional Pool. Now get moving; you can use the trees."

Having spent the last few months moving at their fastest pace whenever they weren't actually in a street full of civilians, it didn't take long for them to get to the baths and lodgings associated with travelers from the east. The ladies had already washed off and been enjoying the hot pool alone(at this time of day new arrivals had yet to check into the attached Inn, and those already there were out doing business around town) for a while, before the boys showed up, covering themselves modestly with small towels. Naruto had been late because he had had to strip himself in the stable yard so his clothes could be taken off for washing, and his body sluiced down repeatedly with buckets of cold water before he would be let in to actual wash himself off in the bathhouse proper. Sasuke was late because he just couldn't let himself leave as long as he could see Naruto having buckets of cold water thrown in his face.

Anko had chosen the baths purposefully. After sitting in the hot water for a few minutes her face was as red as it ever was going to get, and as long as she kept her voice steady none of her students should be able to guess how nervous she was. After the just below scalding water had had a chance to start to relax muscles she began:

"Hold all your questions for the end of the lecture. Stay awake, Uzumaki. This is your official Ninja sex education talk on the differences between boys and girls, and why they matter."

In only took a half hour for her to finish; she had always been good with expressive hand gestures. Then she fielded some questions from the floor (so to speak), with a promise to go into more detail on her tenth-day visits.

Sasuke: "So ten or twelve times in a row isn't standard?"

Sakura: "You mean it doesn't always happen the first time?"

Naruto: "So that's why I was looking all wrong when I moved?"

It was only then Anko told Naruto to get out of the pool and do his patented technique, using all that he had learned that day. That's when the boys realize that somehow in the last half hour their strategically placed hand towels had somehow managed to sink to some hidden corner of the pool. Rather than look like a prudish wimp to Sensei, Naruto went up anyway, trying not to be too obvious about how he used his hands as a modesty shield. Of course, when he used those hands for the signs needed for the technique they weren't anywhere near… and Sakura's eyes became as big as saucers.

When it was Sasuke's turn to go up and use Naruto's modified hand signs to transform himself into "your own version of a female, not too extreme now!" he moved as stiffly as a clumsy rod puppet, all the while trying not to slip on the wet tiles or admit to himself that the women were actually looking at him before he put on his disguise.

Naruto looked at his disguised companion, and gave him a thumbs-up. Then he noticed something odd.

"Sensei, where's Sakura?"

With that their teacher surged over to where Haruno Sakura had quietly submerged in a stupor at the sight that most of the girls at the Ninja Academy in her year would have killed for. The girl was pulled up, coughing and spitting out water, before any more brain damage was done. Of course that meant Anko-sensei next marched her up to the lineup of two (appealingly) female forms, and told her to do the same jutsu, but to a male form that she had never seen. Anko stayed herself.

So, each team (male) member walked back and forth, stretched and bent, squatted and knelt. The (actual) females gave critical and aesthetic judgments, which were duly used for physical modifications, as well as critiques of the proper feminine ways of shifting weight and appearing graceful. After a while Sakura stopped being so gob-smacked each time one of the boys slipped into their natural form before going back into their next improved feminine model. Anko smiled inside; the genin were getting used to the sight of the other gender, and the boys-in-girl-forms weren't even ogling her anymore! And Sakura was getting used to walking with her transfigured male paraphernalia. They'd still be distracted by such things for a while, but her students weren't going to be made fools of by an interesting butt, or fooled by some merely physical gender-switch disguise.

As it approached the dinner-hour, when travelers would start wending their way in to clean up, they left the baths, with Anko paying for their educational and cleansing stay. It was worth it to her, a few more such educational experiences, at the proper times, would help her young students in so much more than their work as ninja. At the least, this first introduction had certainly given them something to think about.

Haruno Sakura thought: "If I tell Ino-pig about this she is so going to die! If I tell Ino-pig about this she'll tell everybody, and Sasuke will kill me! Sasuke saw me with a boy's stuff; will that… affect his opinion of me?"

Uchiha Sasuke thought: "I will never even look at those lying books again. Anko-sensei said that I'm actually normal for my age. Naruto's technique is actually better than the School version, and I caught it perfectly the first time with my Sharingan. I think my team is actually going to be useful. I'm glad nothing embarrassing happened when I was switching back and forth. Did Sakura's male form look a little like me?"

Uzumaki Naruto thought: "I guess learning stuff can be fun, if you got the right teacher. Anko-sensei…Sakura-chan… That's it! I have to make up a Cute Technique to add to the Sexy one! Sasuke isn't a complete jerk; it was funny getting hit with all that water, just gotta make sure it happens to someone else next time, though. Eight, eight's just the right age for a Cute Technique. You can see kids like that walking around alone all the time, but nobody ever worries or thinks about them. No whiskers."

Author's Note:

My Beta reader, Nate Huss, is responsible for a good deal of the decent syntax and grammar in this story. He also regularly finds some of my more major plot holes. The obsessive nit-picking at ideas and plain oddness of certain plot threads, is all my own.


	3. Chapter 2

I do not own, or receive any benefit from the Naruto properties.

A Teacher's Glory: A Union of Rejects: Chapter 2

By Larry Huss

_Some people (more than others) noticed the absence of Team Killer ("Anko," or sometimes "Seven," officially) from the normal round of new made Genin doing D-rank missions around the town._

_ Yamanaka Ino finally gave up trying to casually run into Uchiha Sasuke in the street, and wondered if her best friend and rival was taking advantage of her superior access to the object of their affections._

_ Yakushi Kabuto managed to spy on the team several times and sent reports on the Uchiha's marked advancement in speed and mobility. The rest of the team was of no interest to him, or his patron._

_ Mighty Guy was pleased that he never saw the lot of them around at all. They had taken from him one of the centerpieces of his life, an endless source of good-natured conflict that drove him to excel._

_ Sarutobi Hiruzen, with his privileged means of observation, and reports of from Anko-sensei herself, realized that he had the makings of an exceptional Assault Squad coming together. He recommended that Haruno be given genjutsu training, and decided that when the right mission came up, they would be given priority for it._

For the first time in his life Uzumaki Naruto was living well; it wasn't just the sweet 15% of the sale of herbs and organs that the team was hauling in. He had also finally come to realize that doing his shopping while disguised was equal to an equivalent of at least a further 25% on top of that. He kept his promise to Sensei to take vitamins and eat at least one meal that she had on a "healthy" list every day, and it seemed to have let him start getting into his pre-adolescent growth spurt. He was a little taller now than when he had graduated, and he was adding at least a little bulk to his wiry form.

But the best part was the equipment he could finally afford. Not just stuff that wasn't half rusted through, but the little things that count, like the explosive tags he had used on his Drop Bear kill. He had even gotten some literature that meant something important: pamphlets on making storage and explosive seals, important stuff. The last few training days Anko-sensei had been teaching them how to use various types of wire for all sorts of neat traps. As that sort of stuff had always been sort of Naruto's specialty, he had picked the ideas up quickly, and naturally enough had become a tutor on the topic for the other genin on the team. The best of his Academy class were listening to him and asking questions, and that was even better than the money.

Yesterday, Sensei had told them that she was trying to get them a mission outside the village. Away from prying eyes she would let them really cut loose. Mostly though she was just working them hard on some of the basics; Taijutsu, speed, chakra control, and dirty tricks. Sasuke stayed as the mark to beat on all things Taijutsu, Sakura was their monitor and leader in chakra control, and the king and still champion Uzumaki Naruto led the way on doing and teaching the dirty tricks. After Sensei of course.

Sensei had told them that someone had been scouting them out recently; that was why she wanted them to not show off while inside the village area. There was going to be some sort of a competition between the hidden villages soon, and she wanted her team to have a lot of tricks up their sleeves that no one else had any idea about. A surprise doubled your strength, she said, and by now Naruto was more than willing to give her the benefit of the doubt on things like that.

_Haruno Sakura had gained at least a kilo and a half, but try as she might she couldn't figure out where. Her waist was, if anything, a little smaller. What she considered the tragedy of her bosom hadn't suddenly expanded. And no one, even the brutally honest Sensei, would admit that her butt had gotten bigger. Well, since she was always hungry, and it didn't seem that she was going to pot(belly), she'd just have to figure out how to adjust her scale's set point. _

_ What really annoyed her was her combat delivery. She knew she wasn't as skilled in direct combat as Sasuke, and didn't have Naruto's inhuman endurance and toughness. But she was getting very good at preparing poisons and paralyzing toxins in liquid, ointment, and dust formats. But getting them to the targets was just not going the way she wanted. Her aim was good enough for a genin, and getting better, but the range and speed was simply not there. And Sensei admitted that any decent Chunin or above would have little trouble dodging or blocking almost all the senbons that were sent their way, even by specialists. If Kakashi-sensei hadn't let himself get into the middle of their field of prepared poison smokes they wouldn't have even gotten __him__. She would just have to find a better way of getting the product to the prey. Something faster and longer ranged. Hmmm, if they could use their chakra to stick themselves to trees, or hold themselves up on the top of water, what would be the effect of putting an equal amount of chakra toward __pushing__ out something as light as a senbon needle? The math looked interesting…_

So, they were being spied on. Sasuke hadn't noticed it himself, but Sensei was still a lot better than they were on that; even Naruto was better on evasion than actually spotting surveillance. That was an idea; get Naruto to leave a few concealed clones around to keep an eye out for whoever was trying to keep an eye on them. Best make sure that the rest of the team knew about that, it would avoid any awkward screw-ups later on. Currently they were hiding how good they were at chakra disguises, and a few other things. Feeding enemy spies false or incomplete information; that felt good, somehow.

Sasuke nodded to himself; yes, this was the way a real clan head set up things. He figured out what the resources under him could do best, and then he deployed them with a proper briefing. Maybe the others weren't exactly Uchiha blood, but it didn't hurt to practice how he would do things when he got the family going again, and while he was on a team it was only right that he trained the others to accept him as their natural leader. After all, he was a clan head, and an Uchiha.

Whoever was watching was probably doing it for Itachi. His sick, twisted, and murderous brother. Spying on the last of the family was something he would do. Sasuke felt a little troubled that he actually felt a little happier that he wasn't being ignored. It was almost as if he still cared for the bastard. He sometimes felt he had really been born on the night that Itachi had sent him to Hell. It had been a prolonged and damaging delivery, but the Uchiha Sasuke who had emerged wasn't the same person as the one who had been murdered that night, with all the rest. He was never going to be a little boy again. Sure, at first he had thought that somehow hitting a post enough times would somehow make him strong enough to get justice all by himself. But Sensei had shown him a better path. The Hokage didn't do every D-rank mission himself, or even the S-ranked ones. He sent out ANBU to do that sort of thing, or a Jonin team.

Sensei had shown Sasuke all Itachi's records, at least the ones that were public, and it had been very painful to realize that his demon brother had actually been a genius. And that no matter how much Sasuke overdid things and abused his body he would never be more than exceptionally good. But before he could begin to despair Sensei had shown him the true path to revenge. Wealth to hire a thousand eyes to find Itachi, allies to wear him down and hem him in. Then, have the skills to make him step on a poisoned caltrop Sakura had made just for the occasion. Every member of the team, every member of his eventual army of informers and fighters, would be an extension of Uchiha Sasuke's will and purpose. All their triumphs would be his, and finally Sasuke would be able to reverently place his older brother's head at the foot of his parents' grave. That was so much more grown-up than his childish fantasies of doing it all alone!

Today, though… today he was to henge into Naruto and pick up the team's lunch at some food stand, and bring it to their training ground. Sakura would be Sasuke on the trip out, and Naruto would be Sakura. At least once a cycle they would have a day like this, at least as far as the training grounds. Sasuke enjoyed the learning experience. Both he and Naruto had found out a lot about perverts (after having their bottoms pinched so often when they wore their Sakura form through the streets) and had come to appreciate the powers and drawbacks of the feminine form. Sakura, on the other hand, had become a good deal more sympathetic after having endured how so many of the townsfolk treated Naruto. She'd also dialed her own fan-girl tendencies down considerably after she had dealt with Sasuke's too numerous and too enthusiastic admirers a few times. That had certainly made her easier to talk to. With Naruto it depended on which one you had available; business-time Naruto was easy to get along with. Naruto with his brain on vacation was too much like the idiot he had been back in the Academy.

_They were six, the hidden watchers that Naruto had set out to find the spies. By the end of the next training cycle they had actually found two lurkers. One was a tallish, grey-haired genin with glasses. The other… Naruto just said was another girl that had been in their class back in the Academy. He didn't give any more details, except that he thought, by how she was acting, that she must have been another secret Sasuke idolater. Afterward, on the way home that day, Sasuke had pressed Naruto for a name, so he would know who to avoid. Naruto had refused, but it was obvious from his awkwardness in describing his findings that something a bit shocking had been going on. His imagination running wild, Sasuke felt a little ill at that._

_ They were starting to wonder how long their hunting expeditions would be going on; they had already culled a good bit of the population of the more exotic (and vicious) wildlife from the Forest, and then there would be nothing to do to keep the cash flowing but more D-ranked stuff. That was when they were called into the Hokage's office and told to pick up the pieces of another team's busted C-rank, and also pick up the rest of the team, still stranded on the road._

The Kage concluded their briefing, "Asuma managed to get Akimichi Choji to the Hospital in time to treat the poison, though he will be out of operation for at least a month. From what Torture and Interrogation has been able to get out of the surviving ambusher, they were hired by Momochi Zabuza to take out our client. You are to go and reinforce the remaining members of Team Asuma, who are currently guarding the client near where the assault took place. Asuma will join you as soon as he has rested up from extreme chakra exhaustion. Carrying the Akimichi and the assassin here so swiftly he had to drain himself greatly."

Anko had a few questions; some of the story was a little fishy.

"Is this still a C-rank mission? Having a Chunin team, hired by an S-ranked criminal, sounds like something a lot higher in the ratings. And why couldn't Asuma have just left the captive with his team, properly tied up and disarmed? That way he wouldn't have been nearly so worn out, or could have gone faster."

"Ah, Anko, you see to the heart. No, we are not calling this C-rank any more. As the client has limited funds we are taking part ownership of his capital assets as compensation for this A-rank mission he now has to agree to pay for. As far as leaving the assailant back with the rest of Team Asuma… when Nara Shikamaru saw that his teammate had been poisoned he became… agitated. For that reason the surviving attacker is currently in the medical wing of the T&I section.

"Anko, you are to carry the new contract, and get it signed. Take charge of the rest of Team Asuma until their Jonin-sensei is able to join them, and push forward until you reach the borders of the Land of Waves. You are not to force an engagement, or alert any other enemy forces as to Konoha ninjas being involved, until Asuma joins you, unless for self-preservation or to rescue the client. Leave before dark. Anko, you may find Asuma at the Hospital to get any more details."

As they left the Hokage Tower they started to split up; Anko to quiz Asuma, the others to get to their homes and pick up their always-packed travel kits, and fill up their canteens.

"Shikamaru, huh? Would never have expected it from him," Naruto said.

"Well, Choji and him. Close," Sasuke replied. "I wonder how they'll take us horning into the mission, especially as it's turning A-rank."

Sakura supplied the proper perspective: "We'll be bringing them good news; Choji will recover. And I'll bet they'll be pretty happy to see a Jonin coming to take charge right about now, too."

They all nodded at this, and headed off at a run to pick up their things, and wonder if they had forgotten to pack anything.

_ Yamanaka Ino thought she had seen Shikamaru in all of his modes: walking slowly, lying back and looking at the sky, lying back and taking a nap. She had never expected to see him nervous, pacing back and forth quickly, and basically snarling at Tazuna (the Client) for having gotten them into this mess by his lies. Beyond anything else she couldn't believe when he had actually gone over to where they had buried the attacker they had killed (well, Choji had, mainly), and pissed on the grave. This was not the boy she had known for most of her life; not this angry and thorny soul._

_ They retreated into the forest for the night, doing a far more thorough job of covering their trail than they had ever done in training. It wasn't until mid-morning the next day that they were surprised despite all their preparations by Team Seven. Sasuke looked even more delicious than he had the last time she had seen him, Sakura-chan looked… solider. And there was something odd about how her eyes kept on moving, checking shadows high and low. Their Sensei had no fashion sense, and was practically advertising her availability. Still, she took charge quickly, and browbeat the Client into signing some sort of contract amendment. Oh, and Uzumaki Naruto was there, too. And there, and there, and there. It was fairly disturbing. At least Shikamaru calmed down when he heard that Choji was going to pull through. _

_ Then their temporary Sensei started going crazy. She pulled some clothes out of a storage scroll. A flashy kimono for herself, and a set of beat up farm-girl rags for Sakura and Ino, with orders to change into them. All their ninja stuff was put into a couple of battered old backpacks, with easy access panels for where a set of kunai and senbon were hidden. Sakura smeared some stuff on her equipment, and put her hair under a kerchief. _

_ Ino had heard a lot of yelling behind her, and then some laughter. Shikamaru was laughing to bust a gut at the sight of Naruto holding the Client down while Sasuke gave him a dry shave with a kunai, including his head-hair! Then they rubbed some gunk over all the new exposed skin so it looked like it had been tanned all along. The man was mad enough to spit! Especially when they took away his sake jug. _

_ Ino hadn't realized before that Sasuke wasn't just cool, he was absolutely wild and disrespectful of adults. Hot didn't begin to cover it. She wondered if he and Sakura… but no, they didn't seem to be lovey-dovey at all. Just… sometimes one of the team members would look for a moment at one of the others, and they seemed to pass on some thought or hint by the slightest motion of an eye, or an almost imperceptible motion of a hand. Otherwise Ino would have thought that they had somehow stolen her family's mind jutsus._

_ That was all high class ninja stuff, but what they did next was crazy again. Their Sensei went over to the boys and whispered to them for a minute, and Sasuke jumped on Naruto's back. Then they both did some weird hand signs, and changed into a donkey with two big sacks of something on its back. With a poof of air two more showed up, tied up in line. The Client was supposed to be a charcoal maker bringing stuff out of the forest, Shika (made to look less ninja-like) was his helper. And Sakura and Ino were two farm girls Sensei had purchased from their families to bring to an entertainment place to be trained. They were all traveling together for convenience. The women to cook, and provide something for the old man to look at while they traveled and the men to provider rough labor around the camp and protection from wild animals._

Sakura's face flushed when Sensei explained the cover story they would be using. She had no illusions what sort of 'entertainment' business a flashy-dressed woman would be getting two farm girls to work in. Still, it was just a cover story, and since they were expected to be virgins when they were supposed to be sold to some inn, 'gentlemen's club,' or knocking shop, they had a perfect excuse not to allow anyone to sample the wares if they meet them on the road. Ino, however, exploded.

"You're not going to get me to look like an apprentice whore! I don't care what things you do in your spare time, Yamanakas are real ninjas. We don't work on our backs! You might have gotten Forehead Girl to get in the gutter with you, I've got pride!"

Sakura sent an inquiring look to her Sensei, and got a small smile and a headshake. Sensei would handle this herself, then. Faster than thought Ino's head bobbed right, and left, repeatedly, as a series of slaps reddened her cheeks and knocked her silly.

"Stupid little girl, Sakura is a ninja. You're just a… a spoiled brat, a joke kunoichi. You know a few family techniques and think that means you have talent, worth. You're lazy, and slow, and clumsy. Working on your back is about all I've seen so far that you could do, if the client isn't too demanding. And that's what I'll report at debriefing, unless I see a lot more obedience and enthusiastic effort from you starting right now. Or you can run home right and cry to papa to get pulled out of the program. Your choice now. Now!"

For a second Ino just stood there, then moving like an arthritic old man she picked up the peasant's backpack and put it on. There were tear streaks running down her flushed cheeks and she rubbed her running nose with her forearm.

Anko nodded, "Better, much better. You're hurting inside because you realize your unhappy fate. You'll split all the women's work with Sakura… no, she's to be Rin; you of course are Yumiko. I'm still Sensei, though. The man is Makoto, the boy is Shiro. And the only person you complain about the work to is Rin, because a farm girl knows that's how the world works. The women cater to the men, and your Sensei will make your life hell if you get sassy."

Except for another delay when Shikamaru tried to persuade Anko-sensei that he should be the one disguised to look like some bags of charcoal and be carried by Naruto, things went better from then on. Sasuke and Naruto had enough chakra and skill in the disguising technique by now to keep it up all day; Shikamaru wouldn't have been able to do that. Their pace was limited to that of their Client, who was surprisingly strong for such a heavy drinker, but hardly a swift walker. At night they hid and camped far off the road (like any sensible travelers who couldn't afford a place at an inn), and the boys got a chance to rest. The Client thought this was all too uncomfortable (and entirely too sober) foolishness, until on the third day traveling.

Naruto, naturally enough, had plenty of time to think as he carried Sasuke along as a couple of bags of charcoal. Sasuke was, of course, still himself, but his outward form was now a pair of twenty-five kilo sacks, and he couldn't talk for fear of breaking cover. So Naruto thought about things, because as a donkey he wasn't supposed to be much of a conversationalist either.

From the sketch maps Sensei had drawn in the dirt over the last few evenings their little caravan was getting close to where the last road branched off from the one they were on. After the branching, the road led only to the landing stage for the ferry to the Land of Waves. That was where Tazuna had set up his bridge to come ashore, also. If there was going to be another ambush, that was where it would be set up. It would cover the last two land routes on the shortest distance to the Client's destination. If this Momochi Zabuza missing-nin guy was going to do anything it was going to be there, or out on the one of the islets of the small archipelago this Gato creep was trying to take over. Even though things were currently pretty boring, the mission briefing Sensei had given them promised a real good chance of action, once Asuma-sensei showed up, and they pushed on to get the Client to where he could finish off his bridge.

About a kilometer before they got to the crossroads Naruto heard…something. Even the big ears he was currently using weren't able to more than confirm that something had been near the road, and had with preternatural silence left its location. If Naruto wasn't a ninja who had been hunted often enough by deadly creatures (besides Sensei), often in dense brush, he wouldn't have been able solve the puzzle of why that sound was disturbing. Whatever it was had been moving fast, faster than a deer or other creature that would have been nibbling at the road edge should have been able to go through the brambles and thorns along the road verge. He brayed twice, waited two heartbeats, and brayed again. All his clones then began to make a randomized commotion. When Shikamaru came up the line, checking each lead-rope of the pack train he whispered into Naruto's ear, "Watcher, back there?" Naruto gave a great head toss and then went back to acting like a beast of burden, and listening.

_When they came to the crossroads Ino saw a short, slender figure bent over, and making small pet-calming sounds at a white blob that cautiously edged its way out into the thoroughfare. Fine-boned and slender hands slowly reached out and lifted up a pink-eyed white rabbit to a perfectly featured face, for a quick kiss. Ino noticed the artistically painted nails, both fingers and toes. Her own had all been scrubbed colorless, at Slut-sensei's command._

_The silky black hair framing the flawless, pale complexion almost made Ino regret being a blond. The pink kimono, decorated with plum flowers and fruit was something that Ino instantly envied; it was classier and more expensive than anything she had in her closets back home. When the girl went over to talk with Slut-sensei Sakura made a short little bow of respect as she passed. After a second Ino remembered her role, and did so also. With a soft and musical voice she introduced herself as Haku and asked if they had seen along the way two brothers she was supposed to meet here; they were overdue and she was worried about them. _

_Shikamaru held onto the pack train lead, and walked to a patch of shade and sat down, ignoring the beauty not twenty paces away. Tazuna tried to preen and strut a little, but an "Oy, Makoto-sama, can we rest here awhile?" deflated the older man some. And Sakura shocked Ino by looking intently at the back of the stranger, below the waist. If that was the way Sakura was, why did she still get in Ino's way with Sasuke? Or maybe Ino had finally figured out why, when the two of them were on the same team, there wasn't any romantic stuff going on. Anyway, it was quite a shock; when you think you know someone… at least Ino now knew what to look out for if Sakura ever suggested a sleep-over._

_After S-s had gone through discussing everyone they had come across during the last few days, and discarding them from consideration one by one, the stranger wandered down the length of the little party, and back up the way they had come. Slut-sensei went over to Sakura, and took a gourd of water that had been tied to the outside of the pack she was carrying. "Analysis," she said._

Sakura didn't waste too much time starting. "Fifteen to eighteen years old, male. Senbon specialist from the calluses. Very confident, maybe has something up his sleeve. Smooth worker; I can't be sure if he thought he had an overwatch going, or was on an isolated picket. That's really all I got, Sensei."

"As far as anything I got, he was solo. So, good work. He really was ignorant about the Demon-Brothers, so we're moving ahead of any news right now."

Ino couldn't stand this nonsense: "Boy? You thought that was a boy? That hair, those nails, the stylish choker around her throat?"

"A choker to hide a male post-puberty adam's-apple. A girl can have that flat a butt, but the hips and walk were just not right for a woman of that age. Probably some stage training, or else a lot of practice. Sakura caught all the externals. You saw the nails; she saw the fingers they were on. Some scarring; you have to expect that from ninja training." Anko's voice was matter-of-fact, sort of like "didn't you see the pot boiling over?"

"Gods and Demons," Sakura burst out, "didn't you see where I was looking? Did you think I was just checking to see if his kimono was a good fit?"

"I thought you are… you were… girl's arse…looking…"

It took Sakura a minute to figure out what Ino had been getting at, and then another minute to decide whether to be angry or amused. Finally she just went with WWND (What Would Naruto Do), and started laughing till she got dizzy. When she finally got her breath back, she smoothly sidled up to Ino, took her arm gently in her hands, and softly said,"Ino, my dearest, closest-ever friend, I never realized that you always wanted us to be…closer still."

That provoked an "Eek!" and Sakura found herself holding some trash from the ditch that bordered the road,as Ino did her best Kawarimi no Jutsu ever. Sakura sighed; at least it hadn't rained for the last few days. Wet twigs and branches would have ruined the joke for her.

Anko had listened into their exchange. She was certain that they weren't currently being watched, or she would have laid into the Yamanaka princess for breaking cover. But, Sakura's joke really was too good to spoil; Ino would only get a talking-to when they stopped for the night.

Anko then led them up the branching road, away from the ferry stage. When Tazuna protested that they had now gotten past the sentinel, she just gave him a look of disgust. She wasn't in favor of situations where she might end up with enemies both in front and in back of her. When they had gone a further one or two kilometers she went back to the disguised genin and told Naruto and Sasuke to get back into their regular forms. Naruto was to cut across country till he was on their original road at a point before they had been first scoped out. There he was to wait and make sure Asuma had a full briefing, and follow his orders until both parties were united.

"Sensei, traveling as a couple of sacks for the last few days has made me a little stiff. Why don't I go with Naruto, and work the kinks out?" Sasuke asked.

Hmmm, while it was true that sending Naruto by himself was hardly sending him alone, it wouldn't hurt to have Sasuke get some exercise too. After making sure they both were well-supplied, and knew how to find where the rest would be camping, she sent them off, only slightly worried that they'd get into mischief.

From there Anko led the party about five kilometers more, and set up some trail markers unlikely be noticed by anyone who hadn't been told what to look for. Then they went several hundred meters into the woods, to the bank of a small stream, and pitched camp. A no-smoke-fire-during –the-day sort of camp. A fire-hidden-in-a-pit-at-night sort of camp. In short, a ninja-waiting-for-something-important-to-happen sort of camp. Tazuna did get his jug of sake though; his carping otherwise would have been unending.

Fort he next two days the ninja genin trained (very reluctantly in two cases), while Tazuna first drank, then passed out, and then lay quietly moaning in a state of extreme hangover. Ino kept a goodly distance from Sakura whenever she could, and when Anko suggested the two girls go upstream a bit and wash each other's backs as they bathed, Ino discovered a pressing and immediate mission to collect several days worth of firewood had to be taken care of. Shikamaru applauded his teammates unusual fervor in doing manual labor, it gave him that much more time to recover from the excessive amount of physical exertion Anko-sensei was putting them through.

_Uchiha and Uzumaki were in place by mid-afternoon. It was only when they had gotten there that Naruto realized that Sensei still hadn't really understood how long his Shadow Clones could last. He could have just sent one of them and kept the Client protection party up to full strength. Then he thought again, and realized that they had no idea how long it was going to be until Asuma-sensei showed up, so maybe Sensei was just being careful. It was interesting, both courses of action were actually pretty reasonable. It was another of those situations without a clear right or wrong. Sensei loved giving them those sorts of dilemmas. When he was Hokage he would have to deal with a lot of those, as well as cases with no really good choices, also. Even when she wasn't there, Sensei was still training him how to reach his dream._

_ When it was Sasuke's turn to stay near the road and watch for Asuma-sensei, Naruto tried to meditate, and must have fallen asleep. Because walking through a wet and slimy underground passage was surely a dreaming sort of thing to do. Coming up to a huge iron grill-work with a gate held shut only by a strip of paper reading "Seal" was an obvious hint also. The giant beast on the other side of the barrier was just __exactly__ what Naruto expected the Kyuubi no Yoko, the nine-tailed-demon-fox, to look like in nightmare-land. It sure didn't look all that much like a real fox (even taking account the size and extra tails), and its dream-land talk was a mixture of threats and whining. Finally, to shut it up more than anything else, Naruto agreed that it was a Prisoner Of War, and should get better treatment. He said he'd look into it, but he had to wake up now, so…Ta-Ta!_

_ They had been there for a day and a half before one of the clones Naruto had set to watch things a kilometer further toward Konoha dispersed itself, and let them know that a bearded Konoha ninja was coming down the road, fast. Of course, there was another clone a further kilometer closer to the road junction, and one hiding behind them in the forest. It's not paranoia if you really know that someone is out to get you; and for a ninja paranoia isn't a bad thing in any case._

"So, a pretty-boy may be waiting up ahead, either as a sentry or as an obstacle? Ino is sure Haruno is hot to jump her bones? Re-plants show where to turn off the road for where the Client is stashed?"

At each question the two genin nodded. The Jonin next told them they were going to be moving at a moderate pace, down the road, while he would be keeping up with them fifty meters or so inside the wood-line. Well, it wouldn't be the first time the boys had been used as bait, though a weasel wasn't as likely to have an unpleasant surprise waiting for them as Kimono-kid.

As it sounded like there would finally be a good chance for action Sasuke was all for being part of the decoy team, and volunteered to go last. Since that was the position an attacker was most likely to try to pick off, it was a generous offer, and Naruto accepted it grudgingly. He realized he should have been faster in volunteering. Next time…

They trotted down the road, doing their best to look winded. That allowed Sasuke to make it look like his trailing position was the result of fatigue. He so wanted to look like an easy target. Since they had a good idea of about where Haku had set up his observation post last time they weren't taken completely by surprise when a bunch of six or so senbon needles came streaking out from cover at Sasuke's back. The rustling of the leaves being pierced gave him just enough time to make a diving dodge. Naruto made a quick turn, drawing a kunai in time to get into position to meet their attacker. This time he wore an outfit in sensible browns and greens, with a Kirigakure hunter-nin mask.

Haku had expected to have weakened, perhaps even crippled, the straggling genin, and was caught rushing onto the road by the lead one, who was armed and facing him in a balanced stance. The other had rolled up to a half-kneeling position, and was already pulling out something to throw. Haku came to a halt in a dust-raising skid. He was sure that he could take the pair of them, but the fact that they were ready so quickly probably meant that Zabuza-sama needed to know that there were ninja teams in the area, probably looking for him. Haku was glad that this gave him an excuse to spare the two kids; they had such serious looks on their faces, too cute for words.

He turned, and got back into the woods with his usual exceptional speed, only to see a large man heading toward him with a pair of trench-knives in his hands. It was at that point that Haku realized he hadn't just been spotted, he had been ambushed. Alerting Zabuza-sama wasn't just a good excuse to save the children's lives now, it was an obvious necessity to prevent his mentor and savior from getting hit by surprise by a force of unknown power and alerted to his presence. Haku pushed himself to his greatest speed; it was the only way not to get trapped between the two forces he had already seen. He wouldn't be able to keep it up for very long, but it was his best option to avoid getting trapped.

_ Naruto had never seen anyone zip as fast as Haku did back into the woods. At least Naruto thought it was him; the mask confused things a little. Someone faster than Sasuke wasn't someone you'd meet every day, but Naruto didn't think that he'd be meeting someone with endurance superior to his own in the same person. When the attacker was able to barely manage to get around Asuma-sensei, Naruto was able to close up the distance a little by cutting a better angle of pursuit. Then it became a straight race, and Haku (probably) and Asuma showed what natural talent and practiced skill could do in moving quickly through a tangle of brambles. Sasuke followed Naruto, letting him break trail. If things got to an open area he wanted to be as fresh as possible._

_ The genin lost sight of the others and tried to follow those in front, by sound as much as figuring that they'd be going in a fairly straight line. In a few minutes the pace had even Naruto puffing a little, and Sasuke was wondering if he'd get left behind after all. Then, in a small clearing they saw the masked enemy next to a shiny, dirty-white dome, ten meters in radius. Asuma was nowhere to be seen. Their enemy then stepped into the dome wall, and disappeared from view. As they trotted up to it Naruto tilted his head in a question, Sasuke shrugged back his answer, and drew a kunai to begin pecking away at what they could now tell was ice. It seemed to be a lot colder than anything either of them had seen before, and almost as tough as stone. Some high level stuff was involved; even Sasuke's strongest fire technique didn't begin to melt the ice._

_ "You could just run at it full speed, and use your head as a battering ram," suggested Sasuke._

_ "Hey, I just got this head; I don't want to scratch it up! Besides, I bet Asuma-sensei is also in there, and if I knock the thing apart that way I might run into him, too." Naruto had just made another of his good points. _

_ "Sakura's been practicing with those chakra-propelled senbon, too bad she's not here to use them as ice-picks. That thing is so big that even she couldn't miss it."_

_ Sasuke had raised a good, if currently unusable, possible solution. Naruto hadn't been trying to copy her still-erratic senbon technique. Sasuke might, when she had gotten it as accurate as her regular throwing skills were. She'd probably feel honored at him asking. Still, there was something there. Naruto had improved, lots, with his charka control, thought he was still the worst on the team. But no one could deny he had chakra to burn, chakra to spare. In fact half of his difficulties working with ninjutsu had turned out to be that he had trouble holding back how much he threw into a technique. Even when he had learned tree-walking the first few attempts had resulted in his blasting off lots of bark and wood from using too much chakra. Suppose he…_

After Naruto described what he was going to try, Sasuke stepped back ten paces from the ice dome. At Naruto's stare the other genin went another five, and then gave a nod. At that point Naruto stepped up to the ice, and placed his hands on it. He began to concentrate on building up a massive amount of chakra for one cataclysmic release. For a moment Sasuke called up his Sharingan; his partner seemed surrounded by a weird blue corona effect, which suddenly started to have a purplish caste. At that point Sasuke turned off his family gift. Seen in whatever spectrum the Sharingan used Naruto had gone dangerously bright, enough to leave after images. "Now!" Naruto called out, and released everything he had in one, great surge.

Except for the portion directly in front of the blond (which just vaporized), each of the blocks that made up the iron-hard dome shot out as directly away from every other that it could. That was accompanied with a thunderclap, and a lighting-strike flash.

Prepared for something to happen, Sasuke was able to dodge the twenty kilo sized blocks of ice as they bounced along the ground. Most, of course, were on a ballistic course that would have them land anything from two to five hundred meters away. Naruto was sitting on his rump, his hands out in front of him, looking completely dazed. Sasuke didn't begrudge him his stunned immobility. He had certainly done what he had set out to do.

About thirty meters away Sasuke saw Haku, definitely identified now, since the hunter-nin mask had been blown off of his face. Little wisps of steam seemed to be issuing from his prone body, and when Sasuke got close enough he could see bleeding from the corners of the almond-shaped eyes, his mouth, nose, and ears. Thinking hard, Sasuke was able to dredge up a lecture where Sensei had told them how to secure an enemy of possibly superior power. Speed even better than his own, dangerous accuracy with thrown weapons probably, and some weird high-power jutsu or family-line talent: sounded like a candidate for extreme captivity.

For the sake of speed (Sasuke could see Asuma-sensei in a heap where the center of the dome had been), all the clothing, from the short outer kimono to the breechclout, were cut away. The sandals and socks were taken off, and the young man (no doubt about that now)soon had ninja wire ties on feet, arms, hands, and then each of them in connection with one or more of the others. But before he started to give any first aide to his prisoner he ran over to Asuma-sensei, and began to gingerly pull out some of the scores of needles stuck in every part of the Jonin that wasn't under a protective vest or something similar. Before he had gotten finished Sasuke noticed that most of the needles had started to fume, and dissipate by themselves. While he was working on the Jonin, Naruto had gotten to his feet, and staggered over.

"W… when you're done with Asuma, could you give me a hand?" Naruto asked, showing his fingers and palms. They were scraped clean of skin, and blistering was at third degree burn-level. The blood and serum from some of the already burst blisters was slowly dripping down his arms. Sasuke knew that Naruto had an insane rate of healing; he'd recovered from training accidents almost overnight it sometimes seemed. Still, those burns sure looked painful.

Sasuke decided that he could work best with Asuma-sensei when all the senbon that could self-remove themselves had already done so, and broke at the first aid kit to put burn ointments and bandages on Naruto's hands, and a pain killer to wash down also. He hadn't expected to be playing medic-nin today, but he wasn't annoyed. Certainly securing a prisoner, keeping his team leader from lying on the ground with all his pressure points paralyzing him, and dealing with major injuries to his teammate was a decent day's work.

_ Haku finally fought his way to consciousness through the pain in every part of his body. It was worse than the fiercest training Zabuza-sama had ever done with him, worse than the beatings he had gotten as a vagrant and vagabond orphan scavenging for survival and fighting off dogs and bullies. He was all tied up in a ball; bad, very bad. It would be hard to figure out exactly where to generate his ice-knives to cut the ropes that held him. Correction; as his limbs went numb he could still feel enough to know that he was being held by wire, not rope. Without some of the tools hidden in his clothing he wouldn't be able to do any cutting of that. Rocking a little, he could see where his clothing and tools were; no hope of getting there, only one thing to do. He would use his blood-line talent to freeze parts of his body, and make the metal wire brittle; then put all the twisting and pressure on it as he could, and hope that it would be enough to shatter the wire before he passed out from the blood-lose from the cuts they would be making in his flesh._

_ His mind went through the steps to call up his loved and hated power. Nothing happened. He felt as empty as a scooped out melon. There was nothing left inside him, no core of chakra responding to his need. He couldn't get free; he couldn't warn Zabuza-sama of these dangerous enemies. For the first time in years, Haku cried._

Within half an hour Asuma was mobile, in a theoretical sense at least. The needles had been poison-free, and had been thrown just hard enough to hit and block his pressure-points, and drop him with minimal injury. While he appreciated that, it also meant a bit of a problem downstream. Without T&I's collection of chakra blocking shackles, interrogating the prisoner Uchiha had tied up would probably involve having to hurt him pretty badly before he gave up anything useful in the information line. It was a shame to have to do something like that to someone who had gone to such trouble not to injure someone, especially when the person was yourself. Asuma finally decided that as they would be going to join up with the rest of the teams; he could just carry this Haku along, and let Anko do the cutting and stuff. It was a cop-out, of course. But he just didn't feel right doing that himself, and he couldn't trust the kids to do just enough, and not get carried away. Dad, of course (as the perfect God of Shinobi) would have peeled the boy like a grape. Anyone not of the village was pretty much fair game to him. Just another of the little reasons Asuma had been the rebellious son.

It took them the rest of the day to walk the nine or ten kilometers to the rest of the Konoha group. Asuma was still limping and winded as they came into the hidden camp. When he started to light up a soothing smoke, Anko had ripped it out of his mouth with a thrown kunai, saying she was only doing it for Kurenai-chan's sake. Also that it made the flesh stink and gave the children a bad role-model image. He'd have stared her down, but after the day's events he just wasn't up to it. Maybe if he healed enough…

He agreed with how she handled the other parts of the situation. She first took his and the genins' debriefing, then had the boys inform the rest of the teams what the situation was. She also told them to mention that the captive would probably be tortured for information that evening, and had every chance of being crippled for life. Asuma agreed that it was part of a Sensei's duty to prepare the genin for the more traumatic parts of a ninja's life, and it was better to do it now, when they were in relative security, rather than in the midst of action.

He had expected to see Ino and Haruno as thick as thieves when he showed up. They had been the closest of rival/friends at the Academy by the way the Yamanaka girl had talked during training. Surely Ino had gotten wise to the real situation by now. But Ino was still keeping her distance, and even trying to have eyes in the back of her head to get early warning when the other girl was out of line of sight. He finally asked Shikamaru about it, and when the natural question came up ("So, are things that way?"), and received the reply he should have expected. "Eh, Sensei, who cares? Women are so troublesome!"

What was unexpected was when, as Anko prepared a screen of brush so that she could risk better light for the torture session, Ino came up and as humbly as she knew how, asked to try something before it started. Asuma could swear that it looked like Anko had been secretly expecting something like that.

It seemed that Ino had, unofficially, gotten to read some of the secret Yamanaka scrolls with the more advanced clan jutsus, and thought that there might be one that could be a better way of getting information than torture. After all, with enough pain a person might say anything to get it to stop. Or there might be a prepared cover story they were primed to give to mislead the enemy, or….

Oddly enough, Anko wasn't her usual brisk and brusque self with the girl. She listened attentively, and her only criticism or instruction was that as soon as even the least hint of danger or loss of control started, Ino was to cancel the technique and get herself out. Ino's idea was to actually get into Haku's mind and ferret around for whatever information he had. She was certain that she'd be able to tell if he was trying to hide something or lie, even though she hadn't actually tried doing this sort of thing before.

Just before Ino started her adventure, Sasuke came over and whispered something in her ear, while Sakura looked daggers at her. It was a nice little incentive program Anko-sensei had persuaded the boy to participate in. He had promised to take her out to dinner when they got home if she didn't mess the interrogation, or herself, up.

Asuma saw Shikamaru looking intently at the exchange, but as usual couldn't really tell what the young genius was thinking. Then Uzumaki Naruto came over to Ino, and also whispered something in her ear, to which she gave an enthusiastic nod. As she centered herself mentally Asuma motioned the blond boy over, and asked what he had said to get that kind of response. "Eh, Sensei. I told her that I wouldn't be taking her out to dinner if she did everything right. Carrot and carrot, right? I thought she needed something a little lighter on her mind, to relax her."

Now thoroughly inspired, Ino held her hands close to her body (even though it was Sasuke, as a Yamanaka she had the obligation to protect clan secrets) as she made the signs, and slowly seeped her mind into Haku's consciousness. It was sort of the opposite of the dreams where you are lost in a mansion of closed doors and lonely corridors. She had the feeling of moving from one glade in the woods to the next, each with a scene made of memories or a skein of thought.

It was hard to tell how long it had been, but then she heard a far off voice calling. "Time to wake up, Ino-pig!" Instantly, her no longer distracted mind rushed like a whirlwind to tell Haruno Sakura off, and she suddenly realized she was back in her own body.

All the faces around her were showing concern, except two. Tazuna was disappointed that nothing flashy, bloody, and entertaining had occurred. While Haku had the blank eyes and frozen expression of the just mind-raped. He would have begged for death, but he knew that his release wouldn't come until there was no secret thought or memory left within him.

Shikamaru put a blanket around her shoulders, an oddly tender gesture from the always indifferent boy, and Sakura had a cup of steaming tea that Ino grabbed eagerly and gulped down. Then Ino began to rattle off non-stop the sum total of what Haku was. He felt more exposed by what she was saying than his still-naked form. She told them of his current lack of chakra to fuel his blood-line talent, and what the talent was. She told them of the death of Haku's mother, and how he killed his father and the rest of the village of his birth. She told all about Zabuza, and what he meant to Haku. And then she slowly began drifting off to sleep as her exhaustion overcame her.

Later that night, as the guard was changed, Asuma spoke to Anko.

"You've got a pair on you, lady. I'd never have had the guts to set up Ino to volunteer for something like that; much too scared of Inoichi myself."

In the darkness Anko grinned. "I met him when I was doing some T&I work a few years ago. I could tell then that he wasn't pushing the girl enough. A case of a bit too much love and attention. If she was going to be a civilian it wouldn't have been too bad, but it was holding her back as a kunoichi. You've got to start pushing the kids more, Asuma. It's not fair to them, especially as the Exam is coming up. I'll be entering my bunch, if they think they're ready. And I know that they can be."

Asuma grunted, and pulled out and lit a cigarette. This time she didn't bother trying to stop him.

"How's Uzumaki working out? In fact, how are you with the whole Team Killer?"

"Naruto's no trouble; a little puppy that wants to work hard. I'll tell you though, your father screwed up bad not getting him adopted; the kid deserved some family to pay attention to him. He wouldn't have been such a general-issue pain in the butt if he had gotten some regular love and attention. Sort of the reverse of Yamanaka's case.

"Sasuke is finally coming out of his shell. At the start he was an accident waiting to happen. Another thing I blame the Hokage for, letting a kid his age handle things on his own so much. Damn, I just realized that the guy I look up to the most has been screwing up royally for the last few years."

Asuma took a drag, and replied, "Dad's not really a politician. Not really a good one, anyway. He was never so happy as when the Fourth took over. Picking up the load again afterward was a mistake. Especially not just making it just a temporary thing. He should have insisted that one of the Sanin take the job. Oops… sorry there."

Anko gave a little chuckle: "Heh. It's getting that all that stuff is becoming the unremembered past in the village. It was bad at first I'll admit. But pain fades, and bit by bit I've learned how much of a liar that bastard was in everything he ever said to us. So maybe, on a good day, I can convince myself I'm not trash and a coward. Anyway, I'd rather be trash than one of his little monsters.

"But you asked for what it was like with my little team of beautiful children. Yeah, that's how I think of them, but never let them hear about it, or Kurenai-chan won't have a very entertaining marriage night.

"Sakura's got an inferiority complex as wide as a river. That's partially why she was… is… so eager to get with Sasuke. A sign she isn't… useless and meaningless. She's proud of her skills, but doubts that they really mean much in ninja work. I'm working with her on that, getting her to see that she's got a lot to bring to the game, if she doesn't play doormat to her teammates' egos. Imagine Kakashi trying to deal with this bunch!"

Asuma took over without a pause: "He'd have shown up late, given them minimal instruction, wandered off to read his porn, ignored the girl and Uzumaki, and tried to pretend Sasuke was Uchiha Obito as a young genin."

"And ruined the boy," Anko continued, "alternating indulgence, attention, ignoring cries for help, and applying misunderstood discipline. He'd been such a prodigy in his own time he had damn near no idea how more normal kids develop. His family situation didn't help any too much, either. How many potentially good teams did he fail? Five, six?

"He was a good Jonin, "Anko concluded, "and sometimes fun at a party. But he just wasn't cut out to teach anyone anything. Of his thousand stolen jutsus, how many would he have taught to his students, if he'd ever allowed any to pass? Even if they didn't know it at the time, the kids did the right thing. And I can't deny it's been good for me, too. I've cut down my booze consumption something fierce, dropped a kilo in weight and got my edge back staying up with them. Beautiful kids."


	4. Chapter 3

I do not own, or receive, any monetary benefits, from Naruto

A Teacher's Glory: A Union of Rejects: Chapter 3

By Larry Huss

_ It took Yamanaka Ino two days and nights to drain Haku of all his useful information. Toward the end he no longer tried any futile attempts to hide his secrets, or Zabuza's. They knew that he was totally drained of chakra and hadn't even begun to have his chakra coils recover from the scorching they had received when Uzumaki Naruto had done something to him. Perhaps he would never recover. If so he was effectively washed up as a ninja. That was the path of his life; too much charka and talent when a child, none now when he needed to use it to either escape or suicide. The male Jonin said he was lucky; now they wouldn't need to kill him, as they would have if he was recovering his powers. Luck! Lots of luck, alright. _

_ They left the young man, with a small knife and some food behind, and a warning not to either follow them or try to get ahead; and went to an inlet that Tazuna said should be where there would be a smuggler. He was profiting from Gato's blockade of the villages of the Land of Waves, but would be willing and able to take them to Tazuna's home, for a proper fee. That was on the main island of the Land of Waves, and near where the last section of the bridge was being built. _

_ Ino was glad they were going by boat for the last 10 kilometers of the journey. She realized, reluctantly, that Slut-sensei was right about one thing. Her chakra reserves were too small, exhausted too quickly. She sighed; now she would __really__ have to start getting on Asuma-sensei's case about training them. It had become obvious in sparring with Sakura that the advantage of growing up in a ninja family, and her natural grace, were no substitute for the kind of abusive training S-s had been putting her team through._

_She was all the more surprised then, considering her unhidden hostility to the woman, when Anko ended up sitting next to her near the prow. Ino finally worked it out this way, rear to front: Sasuke sat near Naruto, Asuma-sensei sat with Shika, so it was a choice of risking being near Sakura in the dark, or with someone she knew wouldn't have roaming hands. _

_The Jonin whispered an instruction into her ear. Ino tried to get Asuma-sensei's attention to see if he approved of it, but in the small and crowded boat there was no way to do that quietly. Sighing, she turned around, took aim through the gloom at the standing boatman, sculling them around the various marshy shallows and between the support legs the roadbed of the bridge would soon be laying on. She cast the jutsu she had been ordered to, and felt it gently connect. She let work for a few moments, at first hoping that she had somehow made a mistake in casting it, then let it lapse. She turned back to Anko-sensei, and whispered back to her, "A half million ryo is what he expects for selling us out."_

_ "I'm must be a big girl now," Ino thought, "I've just sentenced a man to death." _

Tazuna was disturbed when his old drinking companion had his throat slit as soon as they had tied up at a little inlet near his home. He was indignant as the body was put into an Earth Technique created grave (done while Uchiha Sasuke eagerly took in how it was done, Sharingan active) with as much dignity as any piece of trash might get. He both refused to accept the explanation given, or that if he annoyed these people sufficiently he might be disposed of also. He only became quiet when Anko told him that they would spread a rumor that he had told them to do it, to save on the ferry-fare, if he didn't just forget it had ever happened. So he became quiet, still not really understanding the sort of people he was dealing with.

When they arrived at his house it was to short rations; the money he had left behind when he had gone out raising the funds to complete the bridge had run out weeks earlier, what with the increase in the cost of food under the economic pressure of Gato, and the Shippers' Guild he was chairman of. A garden, and what game a young boy on a small and overhunted island could hunt up, was barely enough for two; add in seven voracious ninjas and barely enough became nothingness quickly.

A hungry morning and no prospects of anything better spurred the two Jonin into a quick strategy session. From Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, they had learned that a gang of perhaps a hundred or so toughs hired by Gato and the Guild had broken up the last meeting of the town council. As they were traditionally the only legitimate ruling body on the island, it could fairly be said that there was no law at all in effect in the Land of Waves. Anko smiled; anarchy was such an open set of Rules of Engagement. The first order of business was gaining information, though.

Shikamaru (suitably dirtied up) went with Tazuna's grandson, Inari, to scout out how many, where housed, and how good the opposition was. Most importantly, the location of any food stores, and where Gato (and his pay chest) were most likely to be found. The civilian boy was a whining irritant, but a promise of a full belly (even if only ninja field rations) managed to get him moving, still complaining, in the right direction. The other four genin were to follow, out of sight, as backup. The Jonin went down to the seaside to do a little fishing and discuss how to deal with one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. They figured that it would take Haku (they had never thought he would stay out of things) about two days to get to Zabuza, so they had at least another day or so to lower the odds, and make sure that there would be enough supplies to see that the work force for the half-built Bridge of Waveland (and its toll booths) would be fed.

Various expedients were suggested, but in the end there was simply no way they could see around probably ending up fighting the missing-nin. Both Jonin admitted that he was probably better than they were, at least individually. Anko, however, had some ideas and depending how things went in the next day or so she might be able to rustle up an army to help out. A small, clumsy, blond, and barely trained army, but an army nonetheless. At least leaving Haku alive meant that he would get the information that they had arrived to Zabuza in a time-frame they could estimate, and not have him show up in a week or so later when they were dispersed all over the place. And, after all, they might be lucky enough that the Swordsman would just cut out when his paymaster lacked the means to keep him hired. But they both knew what happened to optimists in their business.

_ Ino just didn't know what to make of Team Seven. As they approached the main town on the island Sakura had given her a confession of non-passion. "It was just a joke. I'm not really into anything like that; we're just two girls after the hottest boy in town, and we can deal with each other the same way as always."_

_ At that both the boys began to protest that they couldn't keep her away from the women's side of the totally nude hot springs back home. And that she was a real student of the female anatomy that she saw there. At that Sakura tried to protest it wasn't like that at all, but had to hush up as they were getting too near the town and the chance of attracting attention from Gato's men. Well, she either was… or she wasn't; maybe there __had__ been some premature judging, Ino thought. Still, if Sakura had been playing her for most of a week, it would be only fair to at least __pretend__ she didn't believe Forehead Girl for a while longer and see how the other girl took it._

_ When Team Seven got quiet, they got very quiet. When they took to the trees to be above the sight line of casual bystanders, they didn't even rustle the leaves as much as the squirrels. Ino was panting and sweating by the time she had gotten up to the level they were crouching at, and had needed to travel at half their speed, making twice their noise. It was embarrassing when each of them pulled out a little monocular to keep track of Shikamaru, and she had nothing to compare. Asuma-sensei had never even suggested that something like that be part of his students' standard kit. Ino was starting to get the impression that at least one Jonin-sensei looked at his teaching assignment as a chance to take a break from more wearying missions. _

_ As far as she could tell, Shika was just wandering around the place at a desultory pace, and trying pretty feebly to ask for work. That was something he was very familiar with, making it sound like he was volunteering for something while making sure he wasn't given anything to actually do. _

_Up in the trees Naruto edged over to his teammates and told them something Ino was too far away to hear. He went down the tree, and moment later two skinny yellow dogs ambled out of the trees and into the town. Afterwards the boy came up near Ino, and let her know that he had told the mutts not to let anyone corner them, "because it looks like the folks around here are getting pretty desperate, and it wouldn't be nice to get their hopes up and then…poof!" It took her a minute to understand what he was talking about. His weird clones were evidently going in to give close coverage to Shikamaru when he got behind buildings and out of sight. _

_It was late afternoon when Shikamaru and Inari left the town, still followed unobtrusively by the two dogs. Ino had wanted to go down and ask him questions, but Naruto, still in the same tree as she was, prevented her for several minutes. She realized then that they were waiting to see if the boys had been followed or not. As no one came out along the path it was just more wasted time and effort. Really, as good as they were, Ino didn't see why Team Seven kept on doing things like that. It was the kind of old guy cautious thing she had seen her father and Shika's doing when they were trying to avoid having their wives catch them for some domestic chore they didn't want to do._

_When they were certain it was all clear, Naruto told her to get back to Shika at her fastest speed. She took off, then looked back to see why the others weren't following her. It was a bad move, as her tree jumping wasn't perfect by any means, and she missed her next perch. Or maybe it was a good move, because somehow Sasuke came out of nowhere and caught her before she had a hard landing. In what seemed like a second Sakura and Naruto were there also, and Sakura was boiling mad. _

"_That's low Ino, doing the damsel in distress; we're supposed to be all business today. Sasuke-kun, you have to resist your better instincts, with hot bitches like this around!"_

_Naruto interrupted her: "Hey, hey, we're all on the same team for right now, Sasuke made a fair catch. And he's not holding her anywhere __I__ wouldn't anyway."_

_The girl wasn't satisfied: "But we all know what a pervert you are anyway, Naruto, so that isn't much comfort."_

_Before Sasuke put her down, Ino checked exactly where his hands were. Unfortunately he wasn't holding onto anywhere particularly intimate, and therefore more annoying to Sakura. Ino decided that Sakura __was__ straight after all. "You're just jealous because Sasuke-kun took advantage of his chance to feel me up, and I've never let __you__ get that far!" At that the blond took off back to Tazuna's house at top speed, with Sakura following her and throwing pinecones with considerable accuracy at her._

_Naruto turned to Sasuke: "So, did you?"_

_The bewildered reply came back:"No, never even thought of it at the time."_

"_Really wasting your opportunities, there." _

_Mournfully Sasuke replied: "I didn't have time to think!"_

"_Well, as Sensei always says, 'Timing is everything, in perversion as well as assassination'"_

"_She does?"_

"_Well, she will, when she hears about this."_

"_Probably," Sasuke said in depressed agreement._

A giggling Ino showed up back at the Tazuna residence, a goodly amount of forest debris in her hair, and a laughing Sakura right behind her. In a few moments more the Team Seven boys showed up, and a half-hour later so did Shikamaru and Inari. Shikamaru was damp with sweat. Spending a number of hours roaming around what was an enemy occupied town doing reconnaissance on your own was bad enough on the nerves. When some dogs start following you around in a suspicious manner it gets a bit worrisome. It wasn't until they were far up the path to Tazuna's place that the dogs had dissipated in the way that Naruto's stuff tended to do so, and Shikamaru could be certain that an S-ranked homicidal enemy ninja hadn't been paying very special attention to him.

While Shikamaru had his much needed lie down, the two Jonin finished working up their plans for the evening's entertainment. Tsunami cooked up the fish they had caught (a decent Jonin who was unable to catch or gather enough food to feed themselves and a few others, when allowed to spend a day at it, wasn't really a Jonin), along with the scrapings of the last jar of rice in the house. As dusk began to darken the world they had a dinner, and Asuma gave all the genin a quick lesson in the difference between the immoral and low class crime of theft, and the useful skill of re-supplying yourself off of the enemy's supplies and treasury when in a war zone. After getting their dose of ethical and moral education from the Jonin who actually had a noticeable amount of those qualities, Anko began to lay out the battle plan, and how the task groups would be set up.

"Naruto, we'll need about twenty clones for transportation work. Low visual footprint is essential, and the ability to carry loads of up to thirty kilos up to ten kilometers to a cache located here," she said, pointing to a spot on a sketch map that she had drawn up that afternoon.

She continued, looking first at Naruto, and then to the group in general: "Dispersal at staged time intervals, and they're not intended for combat if it can be avoided. I'll be with that group, to provide protection and guidance. Asuma will be with the strike force, organized in two person teams. Sasuke/Sakura, Naruto/Shikamaru, Asuma/Ino. The Guild enforcers are mostly in these three buildings on the map, one team to clean out each one. Asuma will allocate which team gets which building, depending on the disposition of enemy forces. There should be between one hundred and one hundred fifty in total. Unfortunately Gato, with his best guards and his pay-chests, is currently not in town. If they do show up there should be about twenty of them. For non-ninja they will be tough; no chakra skills but plenty of weapons and Taijutsu talent.

"The actual attack should be taking place late enough at night that most of these regular thugs are going to be either drunk or asleep at the start. That's when I'll lead the pack train to start emptying the local food supply depot. What we can't use gets burned. I take care of any guards there.

"If you encounter enemy ninja you will fall back on your nearest Jonin. If you can't find a Jonin, evade, erase your trail, and rendezvous back here. The goal of the strike force is to cripple the strength of the enemy forces. A bad wound is as good as a kill, as long as it means that the target is out of commission quickly and for some time. You are to avoid heroic exposure of yourselves, this is not a make-or-break operation and there is no reason for excessive risk of sacrifice. Both Jonin will have rocket flares to set off if things go bad. Have fun, and remember that no plan stays together for long in the face of reality; they shatter like a watermelon meeting a mallet. Do not get any ideas, Uzumaki. And I'd like to thank Shikamaru for a good job of scouting out a place he hadn't had a chance to study beforehand."

Sakura quickly got into a private conversation with Sasuke, plotting. He reminded her that this was going to be a night attack, and that Sensei had always said that her night vision was the best of them all, so it was going to be just like a shooting gallery for her tonight. Afterwards she went around begging from the other ninja any senbon needles they thought they could spare. When she had all that she could wheedle she started making them up in paper wrapped bundles of twelve or so. She took out a fingerless red leather glove and put it on her right hand.

Sasuke began practicing the grave-digging (well, Earth Moving technically) technique he had seen used the night before, but without actually wasting any chakra on energizing it. He took out of a storage scroll his favorite Yari, and practiced quick, sudden thrusts and recoveries. The haft he had settled on was about two meters long, noticeably taller than he was. It meant that his range was now at least five times more than with a kunai. After some thought he found a stand of bamboo, and cut off about 15 twenty-centimeter long pieces, and gave them an angled and sharp tip. It was all of one piece now in his head. He wondered if maybe he should complete his outfit with a kodachi or other short sword; then he would have a wider variety of attacks. That would be for another day, though. Today he would just have to do with what he had along.

Naruto tried to think of how to use his new "Door Knocker" technique without messing up his hands for days afterwards. He finally gave up; he didn't have the time to practice toning it down enough to being non-damaging to himself, and his fast healing wouldn't matter if he messed himself up during the actual fight. Instead he went down to the sea shore and selected ten or so nice, round rocks of just the right size and weight, and began to wrap them up with some of the explosive tags that had become so much a part of his expedition gear. These were special; his own first efforts at making them, and while they had been tested (a little) back home, it was time to see if his babies were ready for the real world.

Ino wandered around. She watched Sasuke spear fighting and realized again how cool he was. She saw Sakura (now her friend again) storing the extra senbons she had gotten in pockets, and then making sure that they were easy and quick to get to. Why she had them bundled up Ino couldn't figure, and was too proud to ask. With a small smile she waited till the other girl was facing away and wouldn't notice anything. Then Ino went through the hand signs of her "Mind Invasion" technique; when nothing happened it confirmed some of the warnings about the importance of varying chakra levels in affecting success that she had read on the scroll she had peeked at to learn the jutsu. Now she'd never know exactly how Sakura stood on…lots of things. Mostly, though, she just walked around nervously. During her first real combat, against the Demon Brothers, she hadn't been too effective, and she was worried at how she would act when the odds were fifty to one against instead of two to one for her side.

Shikamaru went back to sleep. They had as much of a plan as they could reasonably expect to, they were well fed, and should have the benefit of surprise. He'd just relax and rest; he certainly wasn't going to manage any major improvements in his skills or strength before they set out a few hours later. Might as well just take it easy.

Asuma looked up at the stars coming out, drank some bitter tea, and smoked. He wondered what was going on back in Konoha, how Choji was doing, and if Kurenai was out on a mission.

Anko wondered if she shouldn't have pushed for the genin to have handled the supply mission. If she wasn't around and Asuma got the chop Kurenai-chan would never forgive her. Why did she have to have such unreasonable friends?

_There was a quarter moon lighting the village. Most of the houses, almost all of the smaller ones, were dark. Money for lamp oil was worse than scarce, and in any case it was wise not to attract any attention. There were four large buildings that were well lit up, and three of them had the noise of laughter and breaking bottles coming out of them. Asuma ghosted up to the quiet one, and after a quick inspection, came back to his troops. _

"_Gato's residence, when he's here. They don't use it otherwise, just a few housekeepers to keep it ready for the Master when he shows up."_

_He assigned each combat team their building, told them they'd have about fifteen minutes to work out their plan, and what his signal would be for things to start getting interesting. They were also told what the recall signal was, and not to waste time when he gave the rally call. He took what had been the largest and best inn, when there had been normal conditions on the island, as his and Ino's target. He gave them a few minutes to get to their assignments, and then gave Ino her final instructions._

"_You cover my back, and keep your eyes checking for anything getting a blind spot. Nail it if you can, if not, shout out 'Frogger'. Move fast, lateral as well as forward motion. I'm going to go through them back and forth, like a loom. This will be knife work; I doubt needles will have enough stopping power. A lot of them have katana or something long, so work inside lines when you have to do work. Don't try to do anything fancy. You're sober and fast, and you'll be in my wake. Here, this will be for your left hand."_

_With that, he cut off a forearms length of branch from a tree and stripped off the leaves. She took it in her left hand; thankful that with the leaves off they couldn't reveal by their noise how much she was shaking. She followed him down to the front door of the inn, avoiding notice by being completely non-stealthy. As they reached the front door it opened and a man staggered out into the street. Asuma grabbed the man's shoulder and pulled him out into the darkness and toward Ino, saying only "Yours."_

_There was a sound not much different than a shovel being stuck into soft soil as her kunai went into his chest, just under the breastbone, and up into the heart. She gracefully stepped aside to let the body drop to the ground, and then looked at it for a second. Then she looked up at her Sensei, gulped in a little air, and nodded. He nodded back, and put a whistle to his lips and blew three loud blasts. He pulled out his two short blades, charged them with his chakra, and rushed into the building. Two paces behind him Ino followed; no longer nervous, no longer afraid._

After they had circled the warehouse being used as a barracks for part of the "Shippers' Guild Land Marines" garrison, Sasuke asserted his authority. He hadn't actually been given any officially, but no one could doubt that Sakura would be doing what he told her to do.

"Two big doors and the large loft loading window up top. The beam sticking out up there is probably where they put pulleys and stuff to lift things directly into the loft. I'll take the front, you take the back. No one said we couldn't use fire, so I'll light up the roof to get them nervous. If you get swamped, come around to let me know and we'll pull a retreat, and lead them into the forest, away from the food store. We should be able to lose them there."

As he went around to the front to do his preparations, Sakura dragged a crate over to about five meters in front of the exit, and placed her bundles of senbon needles on its top. Then she took out a jar of her favorite poison (an orange tree frog and green springing spider mix), dipped the tips of each bundle in it, and laid them out carefully, pointing away from her. Then she waited, and waited, heard the whistle signal from Asuma-sensei, and waited. Finally it seemed Sasuke had gotten tired of the deafness of their enemies. They didn't seem to hear the screams and yells and explosions coming from the other parts of the town, and he just started to use his fire techniques to set the roof ablaze.

It still took several minutes before she hear them unbolting the large double doors in front of her. That gave her time to pick up the first bundle of senbon, do the hand seals with her gloved right hand to get it charged with chakra, ready to use her Quick Needle Technique, and took careful aim toward the opening doors filled with… targets.

One after another she brought the packets of needles up to her leather-protected palm. Each time she gave them the full push of her jutsu the needle pack shoved her arm and shoulder back painfully as the needles accelerated to full speed with a vicious "crack." The paper couldn't hold the needles together long, and it tore to let them spread until the entire area of the doorway, and a bit of the walls, received a share of the poisoned metal. Only a few of those escaping the fire above, and the terror out front, were dropped immediately. Most got three or four steps before the toxin started them staggering. That sometimes let them catch a second blast, which Sakura regretted as just being plain wasteful.

Finally she had to stop even though she still had three packets to go; she could feel the chakra drain getting to her. She knocked the remaining bundles onto the ground, and drew her kunai. She ran up to edge of field of fallen bodies and smiled at the men cowering inside, mostly hidden behind wooden crates. She made a little beckoning motion. She really wanted them to be the ones to be trying to fight while stepping on the still twitching and jerking bodies. It wasn't until the floor beams of the top level began to fall in flames that the boldest of them finally decided to try their luck at dancing on the dead.

_When Sasuke left his teammate he hurried to the front of the building. From the sounds of it those that were still awake in there were playing some sort of drinking game. He figured he had just enough time to prepare his position._

_Using the Grave Digger jutsu he prepared a three meter long, two meters wide and a meter deep trench right in front of the front doors. The spoil from the excavation was piled up against the windows to prevent anyone inside from sniping at him while he was occupied at close range. He planted his short bamboo stakes in the trench to make things a bit interesting for anyone rushing out at him. As he worked he belatedly realized he really should have had at least twice as many. _

_He heard Asuma-sensei's whistle, and the start of the first attack at the inn. He could hear the bangs as Naruto and Shikamaru began to have fun. And the people in his target just kept on playing their childish drinking games! From the screams everyone else was racking up a decent body count, and he was stuck with a bunch of deaf drunks! Finally, he realized he hadn't started the timer on his part of the plan. Hopefully Sakura wouldn't notice he had been a little forgetful. Sticking his yari upright in the ground he sent a series of fire jutsus up to set the thick thatched roof on fire, then grabbed his weapon and waited. If they wanted to burn to death in a stupor, well… they just plain didn't deserve to get his personal attention._

_At last those inside started paying attention to the world around them, and began a panicked flight out of the doors, screaming "Fire!" The first few out the doors didn't even notice the new hole in the ground until they fell into it. Some fell prone, and managed to pick a spot not covered by one of the spikes; some were less lucky and began to add a different sort of scream as the bamboo went into their gut or face. Sasuke used quick, darting thrusts with his spear at those who looked to be getting to their feet. He tried to put the blade in just far enough, fifteen centimeters or so, to wound but not get caught between ribs or stuck in the body cavity. Just the way Sensei had shown him, just the way he had practiced._

_It was surprising how fast his pre-made grave filled up with moaning and screaming people. Someone opened the large loading entrance on the loft level, and Sasuke thought that he'd have to start dodging things thrown from above, but instead they tied a road to the beam used to lift things directly into the loft and started to climb down and away from the smoke and fire. The people milling about trying to find a way around the obstacles in front of the doors now had bodies climbing down into their midst, confusing them. Then as the fire spread on the roof, some of those in the loft started to just jump out and risk the six meter drop to the ground. Whether they landed well or not, each jumper received his due ration of steel as Sasuke began frantically running around sticking each body in turn, and trying to be menacing to the undecided mob still in the building and caught between the fire and the blade._

_Eventually they started leaking past him; he simply couldn't be in enough places at once. But those who had escaped from the building were those who hadn't been in the first brave rush; they weren't the boldest of those Gato had hired, but the ones who were slow off the mark. Once away from the fire and the spear they just kept running in whatever direction they were pointed in until they reached some dark and quiet spot and collapsed panting._

When they reached their assigned target, the large home of what was once the most prosperous and important man in the town (now a refugee on the Mainland), Shikamaru told Naruto that he had already cased the place out, and would be happy to take the rear where things were perfect for creating total confusion. As Naruto nodded agreement and began to create two of his clones, Shikamaru made his way to the back, where a small outhouse nestled under the eaves of some overhanging trees. There was a constant traffic of full-bladdered men, and a few of their drunken doxies, to use the facilities. In short, lots of potential customers for the Nara family specialties.

Shikamaru selected his ambush site carefully; somewhere he could see people using the facilities, but where he was too deep in the dark to be seen himself. Enough room to advance as far as he wanted his future puppet to go, but still staying out of the view of those in the house or yard.

When he heard the whistle blow, Shikamaru selected his target, and used Shadow Imitation technique to take over the body of a large bruiser with a sword at his side. He had the man draw his sword and run to the back door, swinging the blade. True, the running did look a bit odd, and if anyone had been prepared they wouldn't have had too much trouble dodging the sword, but in the dark and with the element of surprise two men leaving the house arm-in-arm were cut badly before they could figure out what was happening.

Shikamaru had his puppet run into the house, where the bright light effectively broke the shadow connection at the extended range. But by that time the wounded men were shouting out "Eita's gone traitor!" and the newly freed Eita was standing in the middle of the main dining room of the house. It was packed with well-lubricated and aggressive men (and several women), and Eita with a drawn sword dripping blood. He looked at it, curiously, and then started saying something like," It wasn't me…" when a general brawl broke out, with a good bit of metal exposed. Things became confused shortly thereafter. And then Naruto added in his own contributions.

_While Shikamaru went around back, Naruto put a henge disguise on himself. He was now two meters of beefy and scarred killer, with an eye patch and two long fangs protruding from his mouth. A moment more and he had produced two identical clones, and he had them going around the building putting exploding tags over all the windows and closed shutters they could reach. Taking an explosive wrapped rock in each hand he waited for the start of the assault._

_When he heard the whistle he started to count to thirty; he had promised Shikamaru to give him that long to get a good capture. When he heard the commotion start inside, he smiled. It was only four steps to the front door, and once there a polite knock was enough to get it opened. As soon as he had a clear shot through the still-opening doorway he threw the stone in his right hand (setting its three-second fuse to start) into the middle of the room, and then began punching the hospitable drunk who had let him in. The rock bounced around inside for just a moment, then exploded nicely. Shards of stone and a cloud of dust obscured that section of the building. The fragments weren't many, but they had enough energy to break through the paper and lath walls and produce injuries and confusion. Naruto followed the first one with three more from his pockets, and only drew his kunai when the last of them had gone off._

_At the first explosion people began to run around in confusion, and several went to the windows to see if there were enemies outside. As they opened up the shutters the explosive tags rigged for pressure sensitivity went off, producing nasty, jagged splinters shooting into the various rooms and adding to the number of injuries. When the uninjured got back to their feet and looked out of the scorched openings they saw big figures moving about in the night outside. They heard screams of pain from those with wood stuck in their hands and faces, or splinters of stone in their bodies. Cries of "Treachery!" were coming from the rear of the house, and from the front entranceway someone was yelling for mercy. There were several more explosions, then a voice rang out above the general hubbub._

"_Put down your weapons and surrender! We will not harm prisoners! Resist and we will take your heads!"_

_After a few seconds voice rang out from the front of the house begging to surrender. After that each person had to ask themselves if they wanted to be the only person to continue fighting in an overmatched battle. Very few decided to go that route, and if they tried to escape through the front or back their bodies were quickly hurled back into house, leaking badly. If they tried to escape through a door or window that didn't seem to have a guardian outside, things went boom._

_Naruto was proud of himself. Not only had he managed to get real projection with his voice, making sure that everybody had had a chance to hear his offer of mercy, but he had also provided the voices for the first few surrenders as well, to get the capitulation ball rolling. True, he had needed to clean out the entrance hallway in a fairly bloody manner, but in the long run he was sure he had saved a lot of lives. Now he was going through the rooms, keeping alert to resisters, but mainly using belts and sashes to tie people up._

_After a while Shikamaru came in through the rear; all those in the back of the house ready to surrender, not least because if they didn't they couldn't know who might turn out to be a traitor and stab them in the back as they tried to make a brave last stand. When Shikamaru saw what Naruto was doing (the disguise he was wearing was a little obvious) he wanted to have the new prisoners tie each other up, with him only bothering with the last one. Naruto commented that seemed to be a very trusting way of dealing with the situation. Shikamaru got the point, sighed, and got to work. With the big guy there, no one objected to the thin kid with the rope or belt binding their hands behind them. When they entered several rooms they found people just waiting for their attentions. The lack of new screams of pain was very encouraging for those who were frightened and leaderless, and looking to get out of this fight._

_The male prisoners were ordered outside; thirty-two in pristine shape, eighteen in various states of injury. There were twenty-two bodies left in the house (each stabbed to make sure), including four "traitors" that Shikamaru had used to keep the back area sealed. The seven surviving women were tied also, though they were left with all the essential elements of their modesty preserved as opposed to the number of beltless men whose trousers fell down around their ankles as they shuffled outside into the village square._

With the eleven prisoners Asuma-sensei brought they had sixty-eight to interrogate. Sasuke and Sakura didn't add any to the total; any that hadn't died in the burning building or to their attacks had fled into the surrounding woods, and was unlikely to be involved in anything combat-like for a while. They thought that perhaps twenty or so had escaped; Sasuke's trench had held fourteen bodies, with more scattered around. Sakura had recovered senbons from at least a dozen, with more roasting in the collapsing building. Call it perhaps a hundred-thirty dead, sixty-eight captured, and maybe fifty or so escaped, but in no condition to do anything for several days at least. Even the best intelligence reports could be mistaken. Shikamaru took it hard; he had been so proud of his work.

One of the prisoners, seeing how few were the people holding them, began to make noises about an attempt to get free and flee. Shikamaru captured him with his family's technique, and had him begin to bite at himself, making sure his own snaps missed his personal fingers. After a little of that there were no more attempts to resist.

Sakura saw that Ino had a very strange look on her face, and before Shikamaru had taken care of their little prisoner problem, the blond had drawn her kunai and started over toward the troublemaker. Sakura went over and gently took her over to the village well, and drew some water to begin washing her up. Sakura kept talking in a gentle voice until Ino suddenly jerked away and managed to get a dozen steps or so before she vomited. Sakura went over to her, led her back to the well, and began cleaning her up again, as if nothing had happened.

Townsfolk began peeping out from their homes, and then started to come out. Soon the boldest of them began kicking the prisoners and then looking for something heavy to beat them with. Asuma… big, bearded, and splattered with blood… stopped that easily enough. Setting the genin to watch over the prisoners in general, he began pulling those who looked the most prosperous and likely to be leaders of the invaders to the side, and began to pull facts from them. Anko was still out getting their store of provisions secured, so Asuma had to take the "bad cop" role. There was no "good cop" present, which led to the Jonin having to put a bit of extra pressure on those getting squeezed.

Naruto wandered off for a while, then came back and beckoned to Sasuke to follow him. Shortly afterwards, Naruto and Sasuke came back, and gave Shikamaru instructions of where to go. When the girls returned to the party Shikamaru whispered something to them, and they left for a few minutes, returning with a good deal more spring in their steps. Asuma saw what was going on, and let himself smile, which completely unnerved the man he was questioning; leading to an interesting line of inquiry being opened.

_As he slept, Naruto went down the long sloped tunnel to the back of his mind. It looked a good bit cleaner and drier than the last time he had been there; even the air seemed to at least hint that it was possible to someday get the sewer stench out. The prisoner was still there, and no more grateful for the improved conditions than Naruto had expected it to be. It seemed almost…disappointed about something. As if an opportunity had been missed, but it wasn't quite sure what it had been. Naruto came to the conclusion he'd have to talk Grandpa Sarutobi (as he often thought of him) about whether it was normal to think you were talking to demons you had been told were sealed inside of you. At least Naruto was certain that __this__ wasn't something he had slept through at the Academy. It wasn't a subject that would come up often enough for it to be used on any test._

_ Slowly, Naruto got the impression that his Dream Kyubi could get impressions about what was happening in the outside world or at least the part where Naruto was. All in all this was a very coherent dream, and if he remembered it as well as the last one he had had with the Fox in it, it would make a nifty puzzle to think about when he was awake._

_ Distantly he heard a gong; that meant it was time to wake up and let the disguised Shadow Clones of Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Sasuke and himself disperse, now that the real ones had all had a good sleep to recover from the long night. He left, promising that he would keep on trying to improve Foxy's little prison. After all, no one wanted to think that their own mind was a messy as what he had seen the first time he had come down there. It was just embarrassing to have a sub-whatchamacallit like that!_

In the end, Anko had decided not to fire the food depot. If she had thought that they would lose, doing it would have been an automatic action. Planning on a clear victory meant that the piled up supplies there would be needed to feed the local civilians. As they were to be become a willing (which certainly meant fed) workforce, as well as eventually the toll collectors to pay off Tazuna's signing away of half the revenues from the bridge (after all, how could he have arranged for people to ship him the seasoned lumber, masonry, support fittings, and miscellaneous metal fittings he needed to build the thing?) that they had expected to make them prosperous. Perhaps some of the locals actually believed it would all be free, but from Tazuna's comments it hadn't been they who had been working on the project, or providing its supplies.

She still used the Clones to carry out several tonnes of assorted foodstuffs. It never hurt to be prepared, and she could already predict the clamor of all the newly 'liberated' civilians back in the town claiming that this stuff here was theirs, and not their neighbors, and why shouldn't those bossy (and rich) ninjas be charged premium rates to help get the economy back on its feet again? Stiffing the foreign hired help was a long held tradition throughout the world, and one of the reasons that ninja didn't do anything without either a big down payment, or an ironclad signed contract before they started risking their necks. Preferably both.

So, between storing the food, having a meal, and getting some stuff to Tazuna's place for the stay-at-homes, plus taking a little refreshing nap and wash-up, it wasn't until mid-morning that she got back to the town and relieved Asuma. As he went for his own meal and lie down he told her what had been accomplished so far, and turned over the Intelligence Officer duties to her. Those being interviewed soon realized that when the hot babe took charge they had changed from the Bad Cop to the one even the Bad Cops didn't want to mention. She really didn't enjoy that sort of thing all that much. It was just that she knew they wouldn't have enough time to go slow and careful, and Ino wasn't going to be able to muster up enough chakra for proper work on this number of prisoners. The little princess was irritating, but it would just be poor teaching and leadership to burn her out when there was likely to be a major action within the next 48 to 72 hours.

By the time the real genin subtly substituted themselves back into the guard detail, and had their replacement Clones disperse in out-of-sight locations, Anko had a fairly good idea of what they would be facing within the next few days. The Big Man himself should be showing up, with his hand-picked bodyguards. He traveled by a private yacht, which would tie-up at a landing stage near where the road leading out of the town became the already finished part of the bridge.

Gato, as she had expected, didn't want Tazuna to stop building the bridge. He wanted to take it over himself, without being responsible for the loans that had gone to finance it. By using force he had planned to get the bridge signed over to him personally, and then develop the island as a major port for the long-haul ships from the far south coast and overseas. By blocking the safe, in-shore way for large ships to skirt the coast it would let him also cripple the other shipping lines who would either have to take a longer path around the bridge and island (against the prevailing currents), or pay higher docking and warehousing fees for access to the port and road system. To make it even sweeter, most of the cost of raising the little army he had brought here, as well as hiring the ninja, had come from a general fund raised by the whole Shippers' Guild. Who, in general, would have been happier to have the whole project stopped before the preferred coastal route was complete blocked.

Anko sighed; on the trip back she would have to beat it through the kids' heads exactly why this whole kerfuffle had come into existence. Naruto, especially, would have to get this straight. She wasn't optimistic about him actually ever going all the way to Hokage, but she damn well was going to do her best as his Jonin-sensei to give him his best shot at it. It felt good to be the responsible one, and having the kids look up to her (she thought that finally even Sasuke seemed to be coming around by now), but damn! It was a lot of hard work, and even harder thinking.

_Haku wasn't looking his best, Zabuza thought. A peasant's outfit, rather than a silk kimono; a nice layer of mud on his legs and in his hair, instead of pomade and perfume. But he was still the same old Haku underneath; stupidly loyal and dedicated, no matter what the Demon of the Mist could do to teach him about the realities of the missing-nin life. There was a knife shoved into the belt around his waist, the blade shiny. That had been one of the first things Zabuza had taught him; always take care of your tools. The only things that seemed the same about the boy were the gentle, sad eyes, and the calm voice using the most polite and humble words to describe the violation he had suffered._

_If Zabuza remembered his _Bingo Book of Ninjas_ (26__th__ edition), this Sarutobi Asuma had some 35,000,000 ryo in bounties on his head, put there by some of the more ambitious but less savory elements of the Fire Nation aristocracy. That was actually more than Gato had put up for hiring the whole team of ninja backup. It seemed that the so-called "Demon Brothers" had taken a flyer, and wouldn't be around for their final payment. All to the good, that much more cash for the Cause. _

_If he could collect on Sarutobi, and avoid having the slime that put the money up from skipping paying by contacting the Kirigakure hunter-nins to collect on__ him__, this might turn out well. Of course, there was always the possibility that the Hokage of Konoha might take exception to the killing of his only surviving child and do something nasty, like try to hunt down the killer himself… would that be good or bad? If he couldn't take out an old fellow like Hokage Sarutobi it probably meant that he wasn't going to win in his inevitable fight with the Mizukage either. Of course…this whole thinking things through was something he should have started doing __before__ his first attempt to take over Kirigakure in the first place._

_He didn't know anything about this Anko broad. That probably meant she wasn't a serious threat. Unless it just meant that she had only become prominent since his copy of the book came out, five years ago. The genin could be dismissed out of hand. The blond girl evidently had some utility in interrogation work, but that wouldn't be significant if a fight came up. The others Haku hadn't really seen them do anything more than act as decent students of the ninja arts. It was interesting that one was an Uchiha; that family was supposed to be wiped out or something. But a genin Uchiha was still a genin, after all. There was the Uzumaki kid, who Haku __thought__ had somehow done something weird. Well, from the sound of it his hands were crippled now, anyway._

_If they pushed a battle on the Konoha group it would take place either on the bridge structure, or at the least somewhere near water. His element, and after all _The Book of Five Shuriken_ always stressed the importance of having the battlefield working in your favor. It was a disadvantage that Haku had barely recovered enough chakra to get a windowpane a bit misty, but taking down the Konoha bunch, collecting the bounty on Sarutobi, as well as getting paid by Gato, and maybe taking the Uchiha alive and getting a ransom for him from some Hidden Village that wanted breeding stock, would finally put the Revolutionary Fund over the top. Zabuza could start to work directly toward freeing his home from the irrational monster running it. It was worth the risk, and in fact having the kid sit this one out as he healed might make him a better ninja in the long run. You couldn't just rely on a blood-line talent and one or two high level skills; it was time he learned that._


	5. Chapter 4

I do not own, or receive any benefit, from the Naruto properties.

A Teacher's Glory: A Union of Rejects: Chapter 4

By Larry Huss

It wasn't until the afternoon after the battle that the prisoners were organized in work gangs and set to cleaning up the trash and debris that had piled up around the bridge construction site. Tazuna was happy enough, now that he had a large crew to do the tougher and more dangerous jobs for nothing but the cost of food and a promise to be let go, alive, when the work was done. Most of the townsfolk were of the opinion that it would only be fair if the surviving thugs were distributed as perpetual slaves to those (usually themselves) who had lost the most, or suffered the greatest from the criminal occupation. As Tazuna was the one who could call on a team of ninjas, however, his needs came first. His popularity in bringing in the Konoha team rapidly began to wane.

After listening to the genins' stories, and their evaluation of how their various plans had worked out, Anko gave them her considered opinions. She had the time, as Asuma had the burden of being their public face (for some reason Anko's slightly psychotic looking smile unnerved the civilians). That left her free, as did her not having been directly involved in the assaults, to give an unbiased critique of the action.

As far as the warehouse operation, she definitely approved of the bottling up of the two exits and the care taken in preparing the ground. Realistically, there were simply too few ninja there to do a perfect job, but both of them had a more than decent utilization of their scarce resources. Sasuke's comment that it might have been better if he had been carrying some sort of mid-sized blade also caught her attention, and before she turned to the other groups she assigned him to go through the captured weapons and pick out the best ones for his, and the other genins', training and use.

For the Nara and Uzumaki team she was a bit more critical. They had certainly been cunning, had maximized confusion in the enemy ranks, and secured valuable intelligence sources. But Naruto's actually going into the building to take so many prisoners had exposed him too much to a possible to-the-bitter-ender. It showed him willing to sacrifice tactical advantages for larger strategic goals, but in her opinion he had been unduly willing to risk himself for the sake of saving others' lives. Shikamaru had used his family techniques well, and had kept himself away from the danger zone wisely. But if Naruto hadn't bullied the bunch in the house so well they could have come out in a rush, and just swamped him. He should have borrowed some of Naruto's explosives to keep things disorganized in the areas the enemy might have used for re-grouping. In general, the booby-trapped windows were a very nice touch, as was the fact that Naruto had made some clones the next day to recover those that hadn't gone off. Otherwise it was a sure thing that some kids in the town would have blown themselves up by now.

As the boys left to go over to where the captured weapons were being sorted she couldn't help ruffling Naruto's hair. His pouting at her criticism was irresistibly cute.

Ino was now alone with the woman who she was sure would always be Slut-sensei to her. The anti-Asuma (intense rather than laid-back, scathing rather than measured, an upstart rather than one of the most notable families of Konoha) looked her in the eye, and began.

"Asuma took you with him because you were the weakest fighter. It was the right decision in a way, but I personally feel that in general he's selling you short. In your own irritating and screeching manner you want to be a first rate Kunoichi. So don't worry about what I'll say when we get back home; you've lived up to my expectations, and the mission's needs.

"What I suggest for you would be to accentuate the negative; make your Sensei, your teammates, and your father sure that the only way not to have you nag them to deafness is to keep you too busy exercising, sparing, learning both the Yamanaka jutsus and also strictly physical stuff. Wire work, traps, sleeping gas, presentation. I get my way at least half the time because most people don't want to get on the bad side of the Crazy Lady; it saves me a lot of energy and time. I don't think you're really a 'Crazy Lady' style, but you're cute and stubborn. Stubborn enough to keep up your hostility to me, at least. Now you have to learn how to pretend you don't have a problem with me, and do it so well that when you're not thinking of it, even you don't remember it.

"Did you find your mind reading helped you keep track of who was dangerous last night?"

Ino wasn't certain if she should tell S…S…Anko-sensei about the flaws of her family's technique. But…they were on a mission right now, and it might get very important, very fast.

"When I read the scroll, it said that unless you had a lot more charka than your subject the jutsu wouldn't work. I've tried it with a few civilians around here, and most were easy, and a few hard to get to. Haku was pretty blasted by Naruto, and he was the easiest of all, even though he was my first time. I've tried with Sakura and Sasuke… strictly professionally! Anyway, no go at all. There's no way it's going to be a substitute Sharingan for me when I'm in a fight, or even a good way to eavesdrop on ninja minds. It's just not for field ops. I guess another Yamanaka is going to spend her declining years in the dungeons of T&I."

"Well, T&I doesn't have to be that bad," Anko said, letting a slight element of sing-song creep into her voice, and having her facial expression alter the least bit, becoming that of Crazy Lady Anko. "You get to meet such interesting people, from so many interesting places. And hurt them in so many interesting ways!

Then her face reverted to that of an intelligent and serious twenty year old woman. "Now get over to that pile of sharp iron and get yourself something that feels right and extends your reach without being a nuisance when you're moving or hiding. Something that you can use to clear brush, or stab a boar. Remember, you're a Konoha girl, and you'll spend a lot of time moving above the ground; you don't want anything that'll catch on branches or trip you up in a crowd. Go on, go on. I've got some Crazy Lady work to do right now,"

Ino practically skipped over to her friends trying this or that curved or straight blade of that or this length. Her whole attitude was similar to that of a young girl running to check out a box of kittens that had been brought to school, because she really was a Konoha girl.

As Anko went over to see how Asuma was doing, she saw the first platoon of the Waveland Provisional Militia (organized a full fifteen minutes earlier) going out on its first mission; scour the nearby woods and bogs and bring to justice (for certain definitions of 'justice') any of the Shippers' Guild leg-breakers that they found. She wondered how many of those captured would be in good enough condition to be put to labor on the bridge. Well, at least the Militia falling into mud holes would be no loss to the project. From the look of it Asuma had made sure that Tazuna's original work crew wasn't represented among them. They had more important things to do.

_As he looked through the stern gallery windows of his yacht, Gato wondered how his plans were going, back in the Land of Waves. It was still almost a day until he would be there on one of his regular visits, and there were so many possibilities. Would the bridge builder be captured? Would some secret agent from one of the other powers of the Shippers' Guild have sabotaged the bridge? Would the Kiri hunter-nin team have gotten this far already, and eliminated his ninja liabilities before he had had to pay them? Sometimes he had trouble keeping it all straight. The last part, in particular, seemed a bit odd; it saved money well enough…but Gato was certain he hadn't been planning to do this before that nameless messenger from the Mizukage had come to see him. The one with the orange spiral-marked mask .Once again Gato felt his mind slip away from the memories; it was enough that he knew what he wanted to do. Betray the Guild, destroy the Bridge-builder, and betray the Ninja: it all made sense as long as he just concentrated on the plots the messenger from the Mizukage had suggested._

_ Bah! Thinking about that just made his head ache. Whatever happened he knew he would come out on top. He had started from nothing, and had made fools of every person who had tried to stand in his way. From honest customs inspectors to their more flexibly minded superiors that he could bribe, on up. Getting into the closed ranks of the Shippers' Guild had been child's play to him. Assassinate one of the hereditary members, marry the widow (addicted to the drugs only he could supply), and take the family seat as 'Trustee' for the under-aged only child of the former husband. It hadn't been hard to arrange four years later for the heir to develop a 'fever' and join his father. By then, Gato had enough blackmail information on enough of the other members of the Guild that he had been voted a seat in his own right._

_ Now the wife had retired from public life and officially joined a nunnery to pray and forget the tragedies of the transitory world, and the Abbess made sure that no one from the outside every checked the cell that Sister Repentance was supposed to occupy. Having Sister Repentance poisoned hadn't been strictly necessary, but why leave any loose ends? The Abbess was next, of course, but letting enough time pass between strikes was needed to prevent too many connections being made between one death and the next._

_ He told his two personal 'attendants' (a blond and redhead combination for this trip) to get dressed. There was no point in letting his bodyguards see too much pulchritude and be tempted to any intrigues. The time to taunt and flaunt was when the victim had no chance to retaliate; getting his ultimate line of defense overly aroused and interested in any sort of betrayal was simply not good business. And Gato was all about good business._

_ After his attendants were as decent as they were going to be, he told them to stay in the cabin as he left his comfortable nest. Stepping out onto the deck he called the steward to him, and told him to serve his dinner up on the afterdeck; the flowing air was fine after a long afternoon in the cabin. Oh, and he ordered that his personal staff down below be fed also; no reason to be crueler than was fun, after all._

As the afternoon sun slanted down, and the air cooled with a scented sea breeze blowing away the scent of blood and sweat, the Konoha ninja sat at a long table on the upper veranda of The Breakers, the grandest inn of Joriku Town. Through the trees there were views of the nearby harbor. The woodwork recently covered with blood and bodies had been freshly scrubbed and now smelled only of wax and lemon oil. After the servers had left their burdens of tea and snacks, the ninja had checked to make sure that there weren't any eavesdroppers. Every few minutes one of the genin was given a gesture, and did an inspection to make sure that things stayed that way. The rooms and passageways on their level were checked, as well as under the flooring, and up on the overhanging roof. Asuma grumbled at this sort of paranoia, but Anko had been insistent. Learn good habits while you're young, she said, and you won't have as many bad ones if you live to be older. Until her students proved to be skilled chakra sensors she was not going to let them ignore that being cunning wasn't enough, if you didn't also realize that others could be just as sharp witted.

Shikamaru grumbled, and had to be prodded, but did the job thoroughly when it was his turn. It was better to do things that way, rather than have to just repeat them. Ino felt annoyed at first, and almost snapped back at such excessive security when they were surrounded by mere civilians. Then she saw how smoothly Sakura ,when her turn came, slid out from the table, and as silent as a ghost or a shadow went up to the top of the overhang, then down to check the under-flooring of their gallery, and into each passageway and chamber that could have housed a spy. Sakura seemed to do everything like a Shinobi, silently and without complaint. Ino was not going to let her rival beat her at that. It wasn't for winning Sasuke, or some stupid rivalry. Yamanaka Ino was never again going to have her friends, family, or teammates make excuses for how she just wasn't up to the job. She was more than an heiress of the Yamanaka specialized techniques; she was going to become a kunoichi that could respect herself.

Asuma-sensei discussed the difference between a slaughter (tiring, but fairly safe), an assassination (a pin-point killing, hopefully leaving no clues of who did it or why it happened), and a battle (messy, dangerous, and to be avoided if possible). The night before had been essentially a slaughter. Prepared attackers, having done reconnaissance and made plans, destroyed a force that was disorganized and surprised. Most of the preparation that had counted, Asuma stressed, had been mental; both in who went where, and that the winning side had started with a clear idea of what they were going to do before-hand. He then asked Naruto what he, as the leader of the Guild forces, would have done better. Each genin got their turn to have their defensive plan dissected. Even Shikamaru managed to stay awake through the hour and more of the discussion, a marked difference from his Academy days.

They broke up the meeting for an hour; having a quick dinner, and making sure that the prisoners were fed, locked up, and had a local militia unit guarding each group. Looking with more knowledgeable eyes the ninja started a betting pool on how many would escape that night, and how many would be abused by the guards badly enough to be useless for work the next morning. Shikamaru was the stake holder.

Then the genin were given a hilarious half-hour experience on using their new blades in simulated sword fighting at night in the woods. Sasuke had let himself be seduced into selecting a long-hilted tachi with a 90cm blade. After realizing that his fellow genin were only cursing when their own new (and shorter) swords were caught up in brush about two thirds as much as he was, he decided that his initial idea of choosing a 50cm kodachi had been probably been a good idea after all. Well, wasn't that what they said about test questions when you weren't completely sure: go with your first impression?

The others had all selected blades of about 45-60cm length, and if nothing else, they seemed a lot easier to run around with in the dark. After a promise from the Jonin that some basic sword techniques would be part of their curriculum in the future the genin allowed themselves to be rounded up and brought back to the town, where they were divided into watches to check up on both the militia guarding the prisoners and to make sure that the Konoha team didn't end up on the wrong end of a slaughter in the night.

_Sakura and her inner self were in harmony. When she checked for snoopers that afternoon the look of approval on Sensei's face had been comforting. The little nods from Sasuke and Naruto had been warming. The frank look of envy on Ino's face had been a treasure. When you've spent years as a follower of someone, always thinking yourself as the second-string, and you see them realizing that you've surpassed them; the feeling was sweet and sweet again. It wasn't rubbing her face in the dirt that was the joy; it was the look in her eyes that said "I want to be like Sakura!" Ino had shown that look that afternoon; now she would be trying to live up to the example of Haruno Sakura for a change._

_ Currently, the form Sakura wore was that of an elderly man, a bit the worse for drink. As she wove her way up and down the streets of Joriku Town, peering at house numbers like he was looking for an unlicensed gambling parlor, her real attention was focused on listening for the wrong type of sounds, the sounds made by someone who wasn't trying to make any. In a few minutes she would stumble into an alley to pass out, and after being sure that no one was taking note, leave as an old woman carrying a load of emergency wash that had to be done. She'd have preferred to leave as a cat, but doing a quadruped for any length to time always made her back hurt. She just didn't understand how Naruto could it for days on end._

_ Before she had a chance to pick a suitable alley she heard a roof beam creak as she passed a house near the edge of town. The wind wasn't blowing, and she hadn't seen anything on the island that would have made a 10cm thick baulk of timber groan from its weight. Either a local burglar was getting to work as soon as the Guild ordered curfew had been lifted, or someone was trying to be a ninja. Someone heavier than the genin from Konoha. Sakura sat down in the street with her back against a wall, and used her hand to fan herself for a second. She didn't have Naruto's nose, and didn't pick up anything distinctive in the air, but the beam holding up the roof above her gave another slight sound. And the wall her back was against transmitted the tiniest shudder as the support resting on it was relieved of weight._

_ Sakura waited for a few more moments, then giving out some old man grumbles tottered off back the way she had come. When she was as sure as she was going to be that there was no follower, she dropped her disguise technique and headed out at full speed (on the ground, to avoid being seen by whoever was using the upper-ways) to where Asuma-sensei was napping as the official night-duty officer. He wasn't a cheerful person on being woken, but he treated her report with at least grudging seriousness, and alerted the others. Sakura hoped that she hadn't just been jumpy; Anko-sensei was not kind to those who made her miss her beauty-sleep._

He wasn't just a one-trick ninja, no matter what Zabuza-sama said! Sometimes Haku just didn't know how he put up with that man! When he reported back Zabuza-sama would know how many Konoha ninja were in town, what their skills were, and their favorite brand of tea! One-trick-ninja!

Haku used the upper routes, rooftop to rooftop. There was no sense running into some random midnight rambler down in the street, and setting off an alarm by accident. His judgment was confirmed when he leaped unseen over an old drunk staggering his erratic way from one grog shop to another, or perhaps on his way home. Haku's landing had been a little less silent than he had liked; the roof he had leapt to was covering an older home, with cracked and weathered timbers, but the sound was slight, and the old sot just collapsed against the wall below. No doubt passing out and soiling himself.

Haku went on, cautiously moving over the roofs; those covered in straw and those covered in tile. Each had their difficulties, each had their advantages. He quartered the town, and discovered several places where numbers of Guild employees were staying, under guard. There seemed a lot fewer than he remembered from the last time he had been here. There had been a disaster in whatever plan that slug Gato had been following. Haku didn't care whatever the plans were (the man was loathsome), but that certainly meant that the enemy ninja were somewhere close. He still hadn't found where the Konoha bunch was staying when he realized that there was a cat on the roof he was currently occupying.

Not an odd cat; a sort of dark gray and slender one. The sort that could be found abandoned in any town in any country. It was just… now that he was thinking of it, for the last few minutes he had been seeing quite a lot of cats, up on the high route. Somehow that wasn't right. Because… the local folk were getting pretty desperate for meat and 'roof rabbit' was always the second thing to go in situations like that. Zabuza-sama had told him one cold winter evening as they had passed through a town in the aftermath of a war between Daimyos. Haku couldn't remember seeing nearly so many cats the last time he had been in Joriku, so that meant…

Risking a yowl of pain, Haku threw a senbon into the feline, only to have it disappear in a puff of smoke. Not even pausing long enough to throw a good curse into the air, he put on his best speed in a run for the woods. Once there he had a hope of disappearing into the night. Up on the roofs he would be visible under the light of the Moon, and down on the streets he could be trapped in a dead end. Only the woods offered both concealment and secure avenues of escape. Before he had gone three steps he heard a high-pitched voice yell out, "He knows!"

Haku no longer tried to be silent, he no longer was careful not to disturb the tiles he landed on, but somehow he could never outpace his pursuers. It became a nightmare run, with his foot slipping as he landed on things, or else pushing through and getting trapped just long enough for the pursuit to get a little closer, or crowd him away from the edge of the town. Finally he stopped, panting, on the top of a shed that was surrounded by higher occupied building roofs, with the flickering shadows below showing that the streets were also full of silent hunters.

He drew the knife he had been given on being released, and put it to his throat, only to have a needle pierce between the bones of his forearm. The shock made him drop the knife to the street below. He followed it, hoping that landing on his head would at least snap his neck. Surely all his luck tonight couldn't be bad?

_ Haku had led them a good chase again, but he couldn't know how many Shadow Clones were in the horde of those on his trail, each with a different form or face and jacket. When he was finally cornered it was a good thing Anko had been one of the first on the scene; she was the only one of them good enough to have nailed his arm before he'd killed himself. It was kind of awesome, if a little sad, how he tried to knock his brains out with a fall of less than three meters. The guy was dedicated enough to be doing something better than working for Gato. _

_ The more interviews and interrogations that had been done on the captives and citizens of Joriku, the more obvious it had become that Tazuna was a bit of an oily guy, and Gato was just pure slime. Tazuna had gotten the town council to agree to finance the bridge with the knowledge that it would screw up the regular shipping routes; it had been Gato who had gotten the Shippers' Guild to escalate things from negotiations on a raise in rents and passage fees to outright murder, enslavement, and theft. There were even some rumors that things had another layer of double dealing going on, but the Jonin didn't want to speculate too much beyond the evidence right then. Ino had been given standing orders to try for a peek into Gato's mind If she could and get to the bottom of things, if she could do it safely. For now Haku was tied up, and left to sulk in misery._

_ In any case, as the new day dawned, the Jonin had their time-line for action. Zabuza was in the immediate vicinity, and according to his usual schedule Gato was due to show up this day or the next. The two Jonin were to go to meet Zabuza, and stall like crazy, while the genin were to handle Gato and his bodyguards. The Jonin would take Haku with them, perhaps as a sort of earnest of good faith. A parachute flare was given to each group, to be used if Zabuza showed up at their location. Shikamaru asked to be in charge of the genin section, earning Sasuke's loud disagreement and the others' curious approval. They'd never had a genius in charge before, and were interested in seeing how he would arrange things. Sasuke had to be content to be the leader of the 'assault team', with Sakura and three Shadow Clones disguised to look like Naruto, Ino, and Shikamaru. Whatever was going to happen, it was already set in the mind of the Nara heir. After agreeing on a retreat signal and a rally point the 'assault team' went up to the working face of the bridge, while the 'capture team' went to hide near the landing dock that Gato's yacht always used. On the way, the 'capture team' raided the local apothecary for all the sedatives they could get on credit. From the prices being charged they could tell that the gratitude for being rescued from the Guild was already almost gone._

_ Then it was all waiting. The sun slowly reached toward noon, and a brig-rigged ship came in slowly from the north. The wind was light, and the beginnings of the turning of the tide worked against the approach, but the sailing master had a clean hull and a good rig for the operation, and within a half-hour the ship was tied up. From the commotion going on behind them the genin knew that the landing wasn't being ignored by the island's natives, and that the 'assault team' would be getting the word in plenty of time._

Nara Shikamaru was scared, though he refused to show it by the least bit of nervous action. He had briefed his team on what he wanted to happen, receiving the comment from Naruto: "And we're supposed to be the 'Capture Team'? How about I add to our muscle a little?" followed by the creation of some two meter tall chakra-thugs.

Now he waited for the last lines to be wrapped around the bollards on the dock. Soon the Big Man himself would be going up to his headquarters in the town to get his underlings' reports. If he took all twenty bodyguards it meant that he would have taken everything valuable on the ship with him. If he took eighteen it meant that he was insecure about something. Any more left behind and it meant that his main money chests were staying on the boat, guarded. Naruto (currently looking like a small ragged urchin begging for handouts) would be their heavy hitter if the ship was guarded. Ino was there to make sure Shikamaru's ideas were accurate. He was there in person because if there was a massive screw-up, he deserved to be there to have it blow up in his face.

The crew left aboard was about twelve or so; Gato and fifteen obvious hired muscle set out for the village a half-kilometer away, with four sailors carrying some chests. Everything was so close to his expectations, and just a little bit off; Shikamaru realized he couldn't afford to doubt himself, and nodded to Naruto to walk down to the dock and start to distract the crew near the gangway. Ino and he worked their way to as close to the ship as they could and still be concealed.

Gato's party had turned a curve in the path, and was out of sight when Shikamaru nodded to Ino, and started to extend his fingers in order: one, two, and three. Then they both burst out of cover yelling ; "We've got you now, you little thief!"

Naruto yelled out, "Ya' gotta help me!" and darted up the gangway. The sailors on deck saw the cute little kid (he couldn't have been more than seven or eight) running in terror from the two bigger children with actual knives in their hands who were chasing him. Not having hearts of stone, those not below decks rushed to prevent the two homicidal pursuers from slaughtering the little runt. It wasn't until they were all clustered blocking the gangway that they noticed that the two still on land were dressed funny; a little like ninja in movies or stage plays were. Until the five sailors in the back of the pack had been knocked unconscious by someone that was a lot bigger and blonder than the kid that had run onboard for sanctuary did the sailors didn't realize they were now surrounded by people who had actually drawn swords.

Every sailor had a knife on them; it came with the territory. Fighting to front and back against people with actual swords… was not what they had hired aboard to do. Shikamaru took advantage of their momentary confusion; letting them start thinking that they still outnumbered their attackers was not the plan.

"Drop your weapons. Nobody's been killed yet, let's keep it that way! Come ashore and everybody gets out alive!"

It was probably a close thing, the decision to surrender or not. But when two big guys seemed to come out of no-where and stood besides the blond, tapping rather large clubs significantly in their palms, the virtues of pacifism seemed to appear overwhelming.

Those still mobile of the crew were ordered ashore; tied up and dosed with sedatives by the two big guys and the two young ninja. The commotion, however, had been enough to attract the attention of someone a lot better armed, and a lot more aggressive in temperament.

Big, lightly scarred, and drawing a nodachi almost 120cm long (shorter than Naruto by about a head's height) from a sheath suspended baldric-style over his left shoulder, he stepped off the ladder from below decks, and advanced on the boy who turned to face him. From how the kid was awkwardly holding a short sword the fight should have been over in one slice, if the youngster hadn't made a darting motion to the right, leading to the nodachi blade's path cutting into the foremast and getting itself stuck. As the man moved to get a better angle to lever his sword free a ring-hilted knife flew with remarkable accuracy from the boy's left hand. Aimed directly at the man's chest, at this short range there wasn't any chance of dodging it, instead he had to swat it away, picking up a nasty cut on his free hand. Before he could anything more than yell out an alarm that the ship was being boarded the hyperactive runt closed with him, still awkward with his sword. But that sword was short enough to qualify as a cutlass, the preferred-length close quarters weapon of both sailor and pirate.

The bodyguard stopped trying to free his long sword and gave a roundhouse swing with his fist at the kid; if it landed it would probably would have knocked him overboard, and in any case it should have forced him back until a proper knife could be drawn. The trouble was the little bugger was short enough to dodge under the fist, and closed with unexpected speed, slashing with comic style and insane energy. The big man stumbled back, getting cut repeatedly on the arms, until he tripped over a raised hatch frame and fell backward. Before he could do anything more than lie there and scream in pain the short ninja was finally able to get close enough to get to his throat, ending things. Not the neatest kill, but in battle they rarely awarded points for style. The survivor ran over and quickly scooped up his kunai; he was sure it would be needed very soon.

At the sounds of battle, two of the sailors ashore tried to make a run for it, but one quickly fell from a knife in the back thrown by the blond girl, and the other was run down and clubbed before he made more than a dozen steps. Meanwhile the binding and dosing was finished up, and by the time the call: "Oy! A little help here!" came from the vessel, the last of the sailors were either tied up and out of it for some hours, or had had their throats slit to save time. Mumbling his displeasure, Shikamaru led the charge up the gangway, throwing a kunai as he reached the deck and saw Naruto dodging around, before jumping up into the lines supporting the mainmast and getting above the level of the three variously armed men trying to cut him down. As each was a warrior best armed to guard their employer during his stays ashore, they were not exactly properly equipped for their nautical combat.

As one jumped up onto the railing to get within thrusting range with his katana, one of the others began hacking at the lines with his own sword, hoping to cut the rope and have the irritating monkey-boy lose his grip when it started to swing freely. The third was looking at the two meters of end-weighted chain he had dropped when a knife had come out of nowhere and sunk up to its hilt into his right arm. Seeing four more armed attackers coming onboard he began backing away from the scene of action, making placating gestures with his uninjured arm as he went.

The guard standing on the railing gave a scream and toppled backward, a kunai projecting from his left eye socket. The one cutting at the rope suddenly noticed that he was standing all alone. There was one boarder up above him, and four more (including two big ones) threading their way around the concussed sailors still lying on the deck. That made it officially five to one odds, which according to common sense meant either surrender or flight. Not knowing how to swim, or willing to risk the drop down to the dock with people throwing knives at him… he dropped his sword and held his hands above his head.

It only took another minute for the guards above decks to be disarmed and tied up. Ino took a moment to rummage in the mind of one of the unconscious sailors: being a mere civilian, and out like a light meant it took the absolute minimum of her chakra to do her investigation. "One guard in the strong room below, three crew somewhere down there, and two concubines in the owner's cabin to the rear of the boat," she said.

Then Shikamaru grabbed Ino and left Naruto and his clones to secure the sailors aboard and take the needed measures to prevent the ship from being taken back by Gato's men, if they managed to make a fighting withdrawal. As the members of Team Asuma ran back up the toward the town Shikamaru spared just enough time to see that the clones were bringing the bound sailors that were ashore up onto the ship. Now all that was needed was for the ship to be untied and let drift with the tide another hundred meters or so offshore, then let the anchor down. Even a novice could figure out how that should be done. Then the ship and all it held would safe until it came time to collect it.

_By the time Shikamaru and Ino had gotten out of sight there were no bodies (except the two would-be escapees) on the shore, and Naruto had told his clones to secure the several small boats nearby to their ship, and put them into the water; then get aboard. Checking over his shoulder nervously he began untying the ship as the clones did their work. Realizing his main problem was shortage of hands, he made two more clones, another set of big bruisers, and the job was finished by the time the original ones were pulling the gangplank aboard and the ship gently began to move out on the ebbing tide._

_After figuring out how to release the anchor, and explaining it to his indignant clones ("hey, we're as smart as you are, remember?"), Naruto lead two of them down below. Each clone carried the club they had been formed with and a supply of belaying pins in case some appropriate nautical missile fire was needed. Naruto just had a kunai in hand; he would be laying off of the short sword for now, until he had some proper training for it._

_It was surprising how many little cubbyholes even a small ship had below, but by following the sounds of conversation the ninja quickly found the galley, with all the unaccounted for sailors having a snack and a drink. Or rather a snack and a fourth drink, giving a reason for them not noticing the recent commotion up above. The cook, his best friend, and the ship's boy were soon tied up and the galley fire extinguished. Because… it just seemed a lot smarter to do that when there would be no one keeping track of it for a while. Naruto decided then that the big lesson for the last few days was that alcohol made you stupid and deaf._

_The fearsome band of Uzumaki and his chakra continued, coming up to a thick, locked door. Naruto hoisted himself up to look through the grating in it, to see some heavily chained chests, but with nobody guarding them in there. That meant that there was one of Gato's most trusted killers loose on the ship. He hadn't done anything up on deck, or a clone's memories would have come to its maker. Each little cabin was opened and assaulted with a quietly thrown knife and a rush. Each was empty. Each time they passed a hatch leading down into the hold it was tied or weighted down to prevent it from being opened from below. Finally the only door left lead to the Owner's Cabin, occupying the whole width of the ship, and with extra headroom._

_Naruto felt the ship rock in a subtly different pattern, and hear a creak as it came to the limit of the amount of anchor cable that had been let out. There were faint sounds of movement from inside the cabin, he gently turned the handle and unlatched the door. He motioned for one of his clones to take the lead, and with a running leap the Big Guy went into the cabin three paces. And stopped. And said, "Whoa…" Seeing that the clone wasn't instantly hit and dispersed, Naruto went into the cabin, running low and fast. _

_He had seen Anko-sensei make a mess of snakes shoot out of her sleeves. He had seen a bunch of Inuzuka children and their dogs in a mass melee/dog-pile wrestling match. He had never seen bodies so mixed up and intertwined as he did on the huge bed that occupied all of one wall of the cabin. He wondered if Sasuke, with his admitted study of certain 'illustrated novels,' would have a name to properly describe what was going on. At least now he knew why __this__ guard hadn't gotten involved in anything else since his employer had gone ashore. Naruto added another note to his list of wisdom: sex made you stupid and deaf. Though he did admit the still oblivious group seemed to be having a lot of fun. _

_Carefully, he gathered up anything weapon-like, and by the time the guard came up for air the fellow faced an awkward situation. Not knowing who the people holding weapons on him were, he offered bribes for a little discretion, guy-to-guy. After all, it would get the girls in trouble with Gato also, and that wouldn't be… well... a standup thing to do, would it? After all, to be fair, two young 'attendants' might be everything a middle-aged shipping magnate would need to keep him happy. But one middle-aged shipping magnate might not be everything that two young 'attendants' needed for their contentment. _

_Naruto promised to not tell Gato anything about the precise circumstances of how he had captured them, and gave them all a chance to dress before having them tied up. If Anko-sensei hadn't been training them on impersonation and cross-henge work, Naruto admitted he would have been awfully distracted. And that might have led to a lot messier solution to the problem. As it was, as the guard was carried out to be put on deck he promised to remember this, and return the favor if the occasion ever turned up._

_Leaving the young ladies tied up as comfortably as possible, Naruto went up topside. There was no one unexpected in sight; the entire clearing of the ship had been over-with in less than a half-hour. Now all there was to do was wait. As long as there was nothing else to do, Naruto had two of his clones start going through the ship again, just to make sure. Sensei would have wanted him to._

By the time they had caught up with Gato's band of merry men, Team Asuma was panting. If the entire party of guards, baggage carriers and Gato hadn't been limited in speed to that of an out-of-condition merchant and his short legs things would have already escalated to violence. Since the sight of men he had paid for working under the guard of a bunch of children was amusing, Gato was allowing himself the opportunity of a rare public gloat. He had fifteen hardened warriors with him, the least-one twice the mass of any of the little guards at the worksite, as well as outnumbering them three to one. What could a bunch of apprentice (by their uniform) ninja do against a force of ronin samurai, wanted brigands, and wandering martial artists looking for experience?

Currently there was a small blond kid out in front of the rest, on his knees, begging for his life with tears and a sob story of how he was an orphan recruited against his will to be the beast of burden for the ungrateful masters of violence behind him. One of those masters had his face planted in his hand, a pink haired girl next to him was giggling (no doubt in hysterical fear), while the other two (a blond girl and a dark headed boy) were sitting on the bridge railing idly swinging their feet. Obviously whoever had hired this bunch had been defrauded.

Deciding that now was as good a time as any, Shikamaru decided to show Team Seven that 1- he was completely up to be being a leader, if he ever wanted to bother, and 2- if they wanted professionalism, he could show them professionalism. Arraigning the equipment on his body properly, and getting into the right position, he used Shadow Imitation Technique to get control of the body of one of the guards who was holding a drawn sword, protecting Gato from any dangers those little ninjas might be. He had fought ninja before, and had been glad enough to survive. He wasn't going to be unprepared if they suddenly attacked.

The guard suddenly felt his arm lifting his blade to a high-cut position, and then slicing down with all his strength onto Gato's head. It wasn't enough to cut through the bone, but then he began to slash wildly into the stocky body of his boss, without the slightest idea of why he was doing this thing.

By the time the guard had been cut down by the others Shikamaru had released his jutsu, and dragged Ino off to the side and off the bridge decking. He yelled, "Gato's dead, but his treasure chest is still on the ship!" The recently-unemployed guards in the front now had the choice of attacking a bunch of people for no good reason (the short blond boy had stopped sniveling, gotten up and dusted himself off), or going back to their way out of what they knew was a hostile environment (they had seen the thugs that should have been holding the place down actually shackled and doing real work) and picking up the millions of ryo that Gato was rumored to always travel with. Once the implications of their situation had a chance to sink in there was a mass movement back toward the ship.

As the newcomers left there were several reactions. The men captured during the night raid on the town were disappointed they hadn't been freed, but at least had the consolation that nothing worse had happened to them. Yamanaka Ino was indignant at being hauled around by her arm. Haruno Sakura was still convulsing with laughter. The clones were in a circle, talking with each other, discussing how different viewpoints changed their perspective on things. Uchiha Sasuke stormed over to Shikamaru and yelled at him, "Assault Squad! You call what we did being an Assault Squad!" Nara Shikamaru did his best to calm down Sasuke, and round up the others to follow the guards and sailors back down to the dock. Eventually the whole bunch, including the still incandescent Sasuke, ambled down to see the last act of the play Shikamaru had written in his head. Meanwhile, Tazuna went over to Gato's body, and began to go through its pockets and tried to pull the rings embedded in the flesh of the swollen fingers of the cooling corpse. When they wouldn't come off, he looked at the knife at his belt in speculation…

There, on the beach and on the dock itself, most of the guards, and all of the sailors who had come ashore, were watching a half dozen of their more athletic and optimistic companions swimming out to the ship that slowly swayed at anchor, eighty or ninety meters or so away. The only person that could be seen was an orange-clad boy, sitting on the railing, waving and shouting encouragement. To no surprise of the more pessimistic (or perhaps realistic) group on shore, as soon as the strongest swimmer got to the ship and tried to climb aboard the boy hopped off the railing, grabbed an oar, and smashed the swimmer's fingers. By the time the others tried to climb up, en masse, two big fellows appeared on the deck and hauled the exhausted and sore early arrival out of the water, and started to tie him up. Two others appeared to help the boy fend off the others, and…

Sakura whispered something into Sasuke's ear. He thought for a moment, and then nodded agreement. Shikamaru watched her, working carefully, lay a henge on the three clones they had brought with them. Now it looked like the whole Konoha group was together. Shikamaru hadn't known that you could do things like that. Well, welcome to the world of Team Anko, where nothing was necessarily what you thought it was.

Now Asuma, Anko, and the form of the late Hatake Kakashi were ranged alongside the genin, and as the dispirited group lounging around near the water's edge one by one noticed them, weapons were quietly dropped to the ground and the disarmed slowly mopped over to another section of the waterfront. It was totally obvious that they were outthought and out of luck. The Konoha headbands indicated that surrender was a survivable option, while the idea of fighting three big and four smaller ninja was just not that attractive an idea.

When the tide turned again the anchor on the ship was hauled up, and it slowly drifted back to shore, and eventually back to the dock after a good bit of hauling and cursing by some of the untied sailors. As the genin and clones fed, watered, and escorted their numerous prisoners they all kept an eye out for a flare to indicate exactly where the Jonin were fighting the Missing Nin. But there were no artificial lights in the sky as dusk settled in.

Out of the sight of the prisoners Naruto dispatched his clones as a perimeter guard. In a way they were better than the actual genin for that. After all, they were as alert as a ninja, but if they were quietly taken out by a superior enemy, their destruction would still alert those they were guarding.

While Naruto was doing that, Ino and Shikamaru found the key to treasure room among the clutter on the floor of the Owner's Cabin. The two ladies there were playing Go, and were cheerful and polite. After all, they might be resourceful in their own way (nobody else had gotten themselves free), but they had no illusions that they were fighters. If the pair searching the room had been two of the boys, rather than a mixed pair, the ladies might have tried to negotiate something. But from Ino's suspicious looks, and her badgering ways with Shikamaru, they realized that this was not the time to try to get a hand on any of the fabled riches of the merchant tycoon.

With the treasure room open the genin made a rough estimation of what it held, and then brought it ashore for a secure and concealed burial. They were not certain that they'd be the ones ending up with the ship in the long run, and wanted to make sure that if they lost it they would still have something… something in the neighborhood of 250 kilos of gold coin. A great haul, of course. But more important was the question of where were the sensei?

_The two Jonin had always known that the island was too big to patrol, even if each ninja had been assigned a separate beat. Leaving the genin to be snapped up one by one wasn't an acceptable solution, so a different method was needed. It all depended on their appraisal of Zabuza's mind. _

_From Haku they had a fairly good idea of the man; talented, vain, bored, and little disgusted with having to do sordid and petty things for people who usually had no distinction or honor. He was torn between his idealism (liberating Kirigakure from the increasingly erratic rule of the Mizukage), and his ego. The likelihood that he would be eager to honestly fight an equal, in strength if not number, ninja enemy might be a suitable enough lure to get him to come to them. So there were, at the most likely places for him to come ashore, polite notices announcing their presence, and requesting his attendance at a little select party and picnic. Asuma had overruled Anko on one thing. The stuff for the picnic wasn't poisoned, even in the cleverest way. He had some sort of long term plan that required Zabuza to be at least talkative for a while. Something about how no one had gotten anything solid in information out of Kiri in years, and this would be the best bet for that. If someone who had tried a coup didn't have at least a few intelligence sources still there he'd be surprised, Asuma promised. As Sarutobi's son had been one of the bodyguards of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, Anko deferred to his expertise in how twisted politics at the upper levels of a ruler's court could be._

_When Momochi Zabuza came to the picnic, the hilt of his two meter long-bladed sword showing over his shoulder, he saw three people sitting on a blanket spread on the grass. Haku, who he had expected to be dead when he hadn't shown up the night before. Sarutobi Asuma, who looked much like the sketch in the Bingo Book of Ninja. And the Mitarashi Anko woman. Zabuza had thought that Haku had merely been being polite when he described her as 'hot.' By the time they became Jonin few kunoichi managed to avoid battle damage well enough to look their best anymore. If this one had a few nicks, they were well concealed._

_After years of living on the run, with every meeting with someone of his own level nothing but a pissing contest, Zabuza finally had a chance to relax and talk and enjoy himself. Sure, in an hour or so he'd be killing the Konoha people, but they were the best company he had had since the night when everything back in Kiri came apart. The 'Demon Brothers' had been kept around while he was in exile more as nostalgia than as real companions, and Haku was a sweet kid with a bad case of hero-worship. No, he missed the kind of fellowship that had been lost when the Swordsmen of the Mist turned from being brothers in arms, and turned on each other and their homeland._

_A very mellow Demon of the Mist finally stood up, bowed politely and asked if they would be meeting him singly, or both at once._

"_As unfair as it might sound," Asuma said, "in all honesty everything I've seen about you indicates either one of us would just be a good warm-up for you. We'll both be going against you at once. I would like to leave Haku out of things, though. He really isn't healed, and it does no one any good if he ends up dead."_

"_Haku, stay out of it. I haven't wasted years trying to make you some sort of a ninja to have you get involved in a fight above your level when you're still half crippled. Try to learn something from this fight. You say that their genin worked together to capture you? Well, now you're going to see how the first string works together!" Zabuza tried to never miss a teachable moment with his apprentice._

_Reluctantly, Haku stayed in place, while his master and the friendly enemies walked down to a low lying meadow near the shore and took up places about fifty meters apart. The two Konoha ninja were separated by about fifteen meters. Asuma called out, "As the senior…"_

"_Now!" shouted out Zabuza, running toward Anko as he drew "Executioner's Blade" with his off hand, and began to make seals with the other. By the time he had gotten her within range of his huge sword there was a thick mist already blurring shapes and distorting forms. He wasn't surprised at all when his cut met no resistance at all, and a basic insubstantial clone dissipated at the first contact of the steel. He __was__ surprised when he suddenly stumbled, his feet tied together by a literal snake in the grass. His empty hand slashed down, breaking its neck before it could bite him with its, no doubt, venom-filled fangs. This, more than anything else what he lived for; violence and deceit at the highest level of skill._

_He rolled to his feet, creating three Water Clones before he heard death cutting the air and blocked the kunai with his sword's wide blade. Most of those that wondered why he used something so wide and heavy didn't realize that for someone as strong and fast as he was the Executioner's Blade was a shield as well as a weapon. Zabuza raced back along the path his hearing told him the knife had come from, listening for the telltale sounds of someone leaving a location they knew was going to become very unhealthy, very soon. Hearing the grass rustling off to the left he veered, and slashed his blade through the fog just as he got in range of his still unseen enemy._

_From too far to get to quickly he heard Asuma's voice yell out, "He's using Water Clones, I've taken out two of them already!" Well, that was quick! Zabuza quickly made two more; they were expensive in chakra, but he wasn't sure how well the Konoha nin could negotiate the mist he had made, and getting them working on him alone at the same time was an unpleasant idea. _

_A few moments later, as he dodged senbon from coming from too many directions to be originating from one hand, he heard a mist-distorted version of his own voice informing all and sundry, "Asuma's down, now it's just the tart!" Zabuza was a little disappointed in himself; his Water Clones to a large extent were reflections of his own thoughts and personality. Calling that fun-loving girl a tart was evidence his sub-conscious was not the kind of ninja he wanted to be._

_He saw his own form become visible as he made a dash toward where the water should be. Should be, in a mist like this even he could get turned around a bit. As he approached his Clone to give it further directions it suddenly lashed out, laying open a long gash on his left side. As it did so the henge that had covered Asuma collapsed, and only the fact that his two knives were chakra reinforced let him survive by blocking the six quick overhead and side slashes Zabuza let loose in half as many seconds. _

"_Disengaging!" Asuma yelled and backpedaled into the mist as fast as he could. Within two seconds a flurry of needles and knives swept in from the left covering the recent area of hand-to-hand combat. Zabuza jumped high and mostly forward, hitting the ground running to open up the distance between him and Konoha kunoichi. When he was in a quiet area he stopped, and listened as intently as he could. And thought things out._

_Konoha stressed teamwork, even more than individual skills. Kiri… not so much. As a result the opposing Jonin had been able to prepare ideas on how to double team him, even in an environment that should have been in his favor. Asuma had wanted him to make as many clones as possible, each was weaker than he was anyway, and making a large number would deplete the chakra of the original. With so many Zabuza-looking clones around making himself look like one with a simple disguise technique would have let Asuma get into range to do a sudden attack on each of them (or the original), unless they had been told to engage in fratricide in the first place, which would have been just a waste of chakra anyway. Cute; they had figured out a way to use his favorite jutsus of mist and Water Clones against him. It was almost a… no it really __was__ a shame that he was still going to beat (and kill) them. It was unlikely he could just subdue them, and in that case; as a professional he would have to turn them over to his employer. He wouldn't do that to Mitarashi; no way would Gato get his hands on her._

_He released his mist jutsu, and the air cleared in moments. There was still a little lingering dusk to show the four Zabuzas , the three Ankos, and the one Asuma on the field. The Demon of the Mist yelled to his clones to disperse themselves, and except for Anko's contributions to the evening's confusion, only real people were now present. Haku, upslope and out of the way, had missed almost all of the action, now he was finally going to see his awesome master finally do what he did best, overwhelm the opposition._

_Zabuza __had__ managed to steer himself to the shore edge. As his opponents put on their best speed to reach him (they didn't know exactly what he was planning, but standing around watching an elite ninja go through a long series of hand seals really was never very wise)his hands were a blur as he conjured up his ace. He had practiced it often enough to be dazzling fast in doing the Water Dragon technique, now with his chakra well below half strength he wasn't going to be able to waste any more power with fooling around. "Technique, Water Dragon!" Zabuza called out. A huge, long, reptilian-looking mass of water rose out of the sea, and began to arch up into the sky and to the shore. _

_Haku had never seen this technique used for real combat, and actually winced a little at what he could predict would soon be happening to the two Konoha Jonin. When a second Water Dragon suddenly rose from the sea and intercepted Zabuza's effort, leading to a huge and blinding moment of rain, no one was more surprised than Haku and Zabuza._


	6. Chapter 5

I do not own or receive any benefit from the Naruto properties.

A Teacher's Glory: A Union of Rejects: Chapter 5

By Larry Huss

Between the ten million million drops spraying out from the colliding Water Dragons, and the mist rising from that cascade as it smashed itself onto the ground, everything disappeared in a dense white blankness like being in the middle of a waterfall. By the time those on the field had picked themselves up, three swiftly moving hunters in the distinctive uniform of the Kirigakure Hunter-ninja were running toward the tall figure of Zabuza. Without an instant's hesitation he headed off to the close-by shore, and dived into the water, disappearing from view. The hunter-nins spread out as they neared the water's edge, and dove in after their prey. The waters boiled as the trained killers sent out specialized tentacles of chakra to search out any hiding places the fugitive might have gotten to, but the sea is wide and deep, and even if they were close on their quarry's heels, both pursuers and pursued were experts of the skills of the hidden village of the Land of Water.

Haku gave a small leap of alarm when a large snake, evidently one of Anko's summoning, slithered up out of the soaked and muddy field below. It passed right next to him, and once into the dark tree-line at the top of the slope it transformed itself into Zabuza, Demon of the Mist, rebel against the Mizukage Yagura, and nobody's fool when it came to learning that sometimes the old tricks were the best ones. He didn't often have to admit he was outmatched, but after fighting the Konoha Jonin he had realized he was in no shape to take on three fresh members of Kiri's elite.

Before he turned and left Zabuza muttered to his tool and apprentice, "You're in no condition to cut and run at the speed I'll have to. Do you remember that inn down in Tanagakure, the one that was next to the spa you wanted to goof off in? I'll meet you there in two months. Till then, keep yourself in shape. And practice your disguises. Those Konoha ninja have convinced me there's more use to the basic stuff than I had thought." With that Zabuza set off toward the closest connection to the mainland, at his best long distance lope.

The Konoha Jonin squelched up through the mud to where the gob-smacked Haku was staring off into the gloom, where his master had already disappeared. Asuma looked out at the troubled sea, then the young man, and then he proposed a near-term plan of action to the confused Haku:

"You might as well come with us, kid. If the locals get their hands on you before you're up to snuff they'll have you on the work-gang for sure. And that will only lead to a nasty eventual escape, leaving lots of frozen corpsicles lying around. Consider it a bit of professional courtesy, us looking out for you until you've got your stuff back."

Really having nothing better to do; no chakra, no real weapons, no money, and no other (if not exactly, friends) acquaintances he could trust not to have him in shackles, Haku went along with the two. With Zabuza gone, and in any case no longer around to get in their way, the Konoha Jonin had no more reason to make his life difficult. Yes, they might try to seduce him to the Dark (AKA the anti-Zabuza) Side, but he was sure he was ready to resist that. And in any case, it was late, he was drenched, and the only hope he had of a warm bed and dry clothing was back at the inn in town.

_When Shikamaru (out of Haku's hearing) gave his report on the day's exertions to his Sensei, Asuma had to acknowledge that the only real drawback to the genin's work was Shikamaru and Naruto's unfortunate knack for capturing entirely too many prisoners. While the original group captured had been safe enough to be used as manual labor, the eighteen bodyguards were a different story. At least some of them were, in their own way, as potentially dangerous as a trained genin. In fact, Asuma had seen some non-ninja warriors that if equipped properly were able to be dangerous to Chunin in one-on-one situations. Obviously those captured here were of a lesser sort, but still, to let people like this back in the town after Teams Asuma and Anko had returned home was only asking for trouble. _

_ On hearing that Gato's payroll had been captured and hidden, Asuma did a quick calculation of how much the legitimate booty was worth. If Gato's scales had been accurate, and there were no lead slugs in the mix, two hundred and fifty kilos of gold was about 60,000,000 ryo (1). So each genin would be getting about 1.8 million ryo, after taxes and their superior's cut was taken out. As a D-rank mission was usually worth at most 5,000 ryo for the whole team… Asuma realized he'd have to talk to Nara Shikaku to make sure that enough pressure was put onto Shikamaru to not just retire when he got home. Have their parents make them put the money into some sort of trust fund that couldn't be touched until the kids were twenty-five or so, maybe? In any case the kids wouldn't be told exactly what was going to happen to the loot until it was safely back in the Central Bank of Konohagakure. _

_ Now Asuma decided it was time to look at the total situation. Gato was dead and the plans of the Shippers' Guild were completely shot to pieces. There were too many dangerous men currently in the Land of Waves. Left here they would be an negative factor for the Land of Waves settling down. The genin had captured a nice enough ship that was of no earthly use to the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The Jonin had a wealth of information about Kiri, some only a few months old. Konoha also had a half share in all tolls collected from the bridge, which would probably be carrying most of the cargo shipped up from the south during the storm season, now that the safe, inshore passage was blocked. Mostly little bits of some big problems; put together they added up to a solution or two._

_ Within two days Asuma's schemes were put into operation. Four donkeys had been acquired (to Naruto's relief) to carry unspecified 'specimens' back to Konoha. The sailors from the yacht were to sail the ship back to the Shippers' Guild Headquarters at Hiraishin City, in the Land of Lightening. Included in the cargo, besides the bravos Gato had hired, were scrolls that were sure to cause chaos, as they were copies of the choicest blackmail documents that Gato had used on some of the Guild members to get his way. There was also an invitation for the Guild, once it got its affairs in order, to send an embassy to Konoha to see about getting a more reasonable arrangement for dealing with the soon to be completed Great Waveland Bridge. When Tazuna protested at the ninja having taken control of a plan he had carefully set up to make himself rich (and his neighbors moderately prosperous) Anko had reminded him that a businessman who had a disagreement took the case to law; a ninja was likely to use a more direct method of settling things. _

_ The entire Konoha crew were going back together, part of the way together with Gato's (or was it the late-Gato's?) blond and redheaded 'attendants,' and Haku. The women had managed to claim an interesting assortment of fairly valuable jewelry as presents given them by their former employer before his timely demise. Rather than take their chances (in several senses) traveling with far too many violent, unemployed, and impulsive men over the seas, they preferred to take the land route back to a place to seek employment in their preferred profession. For two choice pieces Haku had agreed to be their bodyguard on their journeys, until something better turned up. _

Ino still had trouble believing it; dressed up in one of Gato's most luxurious floral formal kimonos Haku still managed to look like a sweet young thing ready to enter a Junior Misses Preparatory Academy. And that was even after she had been in the boy's mind and found no hint of gender confusion, or lack of a normal appreciation of feminine charms. Before his chakra had recovered sufficiently to block her talents, she had spied a bit more into his thoughts and discovered that the teasing from his new employers was well on its way to driving him to distraction. But he still looked better in a kimono than she did!

Anko's team spent almost all the time they were moving shifting from one form to another, or walking in a clot showing each other hand signs for variations on standard jutsus. Really, why would anyone want to learn anything that Sakura said was basically reverse tree-climbing? Or how to be cute, from Naruto, no less! Yet even Sasuke-kun seemed eager to nail down the signs. It must be some form of mind-control S-S… Anko-sensei had imposed on her squad. When they stopped for the night Naruto kept on running off into the nearest stand of trees, or to a patch of sand, and making some weird sort of explosion. Just like a boy; just like a little boy! When she complained on how dull they were acting Shikamaru simply said that talking people don't listen, and he watched it all.

Shikamaru was watching when Naruto and Anko had a brief, private, conversation that had her giving him a quick and private hug, and overheard only the word "Hokage" from some urgently said promise the Jonin made to her shortest boy genin. Shikamaru was watching (and listening as well as he could) as in the next few days he could tell Naruto tried to get his nerve up to say something to his teammates, and failed. It was all pieces of a puzzle to Shikamaru; too few pieces for an immense puzzle. But he was slowly collecting them, and only when he felt he had enough would he start to try to fit them all together.

By the time Haku led his two employers off toward their planned destination, Ino couldn't read him anymore, and he had begun to be able to make ice senbon again. Now if the women would only stop hanging onto his arms and cooing into his ear so much, he would again be an effective bodyguard. As it was, Haku was last seen walking in the middle of his little caravan, his head twisted back to look longingly at the relatively sane world of ninjas. Ino wondered if the blush he had been showing for the last day or so (what had they been whispering to him?) would ever wear off. She had asked Naruto, whose hearing sometimes seemed to be supernaturally good, that very question. He evidently had made out what was being said, because then he started to blush also.

Ino had never been as happy as when the great gates of Konoha came into view. Now it would be a quick debriefing, then home to freshen up, and then over to see if Choji was out of the hospital yet. He was getting a visit wherever he was, and she hoped he would be able to appreciate it. Boys could be so thick sometimes.

She noticed just as she entered the town that there was a small group of kids that had suddenly appeared next to the returning ninja. Since Team Anko was still visible walking beside her… actually that meant nothing. The kids were definitely forms she had seen the other genin practicing with. Why they felt that they had to be putting on a show all the time she just couldn't understand, but as the whole group got near to the Hokage's Tower for their debriefing she noticed a certain hidden tension in the apparently skylarking children.

With the genin she thought were clones (and she tried to figure out why they were there, as well as Shikamaru and herself) they waited outside the Hokage's Office while the basic story was told inside by the Jonin-sensei. She wondered if she, and the others, were there just being kept around in case a specific point or two would have to be cleared (or covered) up. While she was waiting Team Anko showed up, the genin she had been sitting with poofed into nothingness and suddenly three more children appeared (looking like the first group) and began ambling toward the exit.

The Jonin came out of the Office and told Ino to enter; before she had even gotten through the door Team Seven had surrounded their Sensei, and were urgently whispering something to her. It must be important, Ino thought; but what did they know, and when did they learn about it? She shut the door behind her, and prepared to face the greatest man she knew.

She quickly saw how Naruto could call him (sometimes) "Grandpa"; he was wrinkled and kind and his voice reassured her into speaking without holding anything back. Even the sort-of sneaking a look at the family's special techniques when she shouldn't have. He praised her enterprise, and said that she had contributed greatly to the mission's success. Getting told that most of her share of Gato's loot would out of her hands for what sounded like almost forever… was a lot less horrible when he said it, somehow. When he dismissed her he told her to send in Anko-sensei and Naruto. Something seemed to be troubling him; despite Naruto being such an idiot, she hoped it wasn't about something he had done.

_So… Anko had told him that Naruto had finally met his prisoner, face-to-face. Sarutobi agreed that the boy deserved some direct advice on how to deal with the tricky and powerful Fox. The Hokage realized that by now Anko probably knew the genin better than any other adult,; having her there would be useful, in keeping him calm if nothing else._

_ It was interesting how well the genin of the two teams had worked together. He had thought he had the makings of an Assault Squad; instead it seemed that Team Seven was almost as good at infiltration and capture. And they even were developing subtle but powerful variations on some of the basic jutsus. It was hard to think that Naruto had barely been able to do some of them a few months ago. Having Anko take over as their Sensei had been one of his better judgments; it showed he still had an eye for personnel._

_ Before he had a chance to welcome his soldiers, Anko burst out: "Forgive me Hokage-sama, but there is something I feel that you should know. The genin, Yakushi Kabuto, that we informed you had been observing my team earlier, began following them within minutes of our arrival today. As no one knew for sure when we would arrive, it must mean he has an information network in place to inform him of things of interest. No genin, except Naruto for obvious reasons, would have such a network unless they are part of a conspiracy. If this Yakushi is not part of one of your spy organizations, please consider him a potential threat. If you either are using him yourself, or already know his connections, please tell us to ignore him in the future. Yakushi is currently, we believe, inside the Midori Tea House, observing the entrance to the Tower from a seat at the front window."_

_ Sarutobi quickly pulled out his viewing crystal. While he did it, he asked why Naruto was exempt from the possibility of having a hostile spy network._

_ "Naruto-kun generally has from five to ten Shadow Clones out and doing things whenever he is in the village, Hokage-sama. They are usually disguised, and do his shopping, studying the subjects he screwed up on while in the Academy, and practicing his jutsus to perfect and speed his motions. Since he gains the memories of each when they disperse through exhaustion or damage he can be as well informed as he wishes to be without anyone's help."_

_ By now the Hokage had the crystal working, and quickly found the young man where he had been placed by Anko's report. The tea-sipping genin certainly didn't __look__ like he was keeping the Hokage's Tower under observation, but a good spy wouldn't be obviously interested, after all._

_ Promising to speak to Naruto soon, the Hokage ordered Team Seven to leave the Tower and walk along a certain route before dispersing for the day, then to meet at Training Grounds Six at mid-morning the next day. If they could casually, really casually (certainly no more than once), mention that fact as they walked, it would be appreciated. Anko's eager team quickly obeyed; how different from his difficult son and the bunch he was supervising._

_ It was not to his surprise in the least when Yakushi performed a perfect tailing job on Team Seven, eventually ending up following Sasuke to his home in the old Uchiha District. Yakushi observed from cover as the Uchiha did some basic sword drills with a kodachi, and then left when the boy went into the bathhouse to start to heat water. _

_ So… Yakushi wasn't an erotic stalker. He was interested in Sasuke's, and only Sasuke's, skills. Consulting the file on the perpetual genin, the Hokage noted four positive identifications of Yakushi as spying on Team Seven previously. Now the number was five, or at least that was the number of __detected __observations. Certainly this was too much for idle curiosity. Sarutobi made a note for ANBU to be in place around Training Ground Six very early tomorrow. _

_ As he read a comment on Yakushi's file, he was stirred to have another one pulled for him. Yes, Hyuga Hinata had been detected around Team Seven, and even more frequently than Yakushi. She had been noticed, since back in the Academy, to sometimes follow Naruto around, quietly and in the background. She didn't seem to be using much in the way of stealth; certainly not what her Sensei said she was capable of. Probably more of a childish crush, but if her name came up any more in this business she would be gently talked to, Hyuga heiress or no._

_ There didn't seem to be anyone detected (__yet__; that was all that could currently be said) about someone stalking Haruno Sakura. How odd; if he was a young man, that's where he would have been putting his efforts. Well, either there was no one, or they were very good._

_ Sarutobi sent a message to his wife that he would be working late that night. With an old man's bladder he knew that he would be waking up several times during the night. Sleeping over on the couch in his office would give him a chance to use his crystal to see what Yakushi was up to at random times tonight. Probably nothing would come of it, but if someone needed a report of when Uchiha returned to the Village Hidden in the Leaves, it was at least possible that their agent would send one as soon as he could, even on the night after they had come home._

Uchiha Sasuke was first to the scene of the crime, but by no more than two seconds. The man lay on his back, his ANBU mask clawed off his face by hands that had gone to his mouth in an impossible attempt t somehow stop the pain. As it was, all of Team Seven were there by the time the first of the ANBU arrived. Naruto quickly made a trio of Shadow Clones in the shape of weasels, quick and low to the ground. It took him a few moments, while his teammates were still dealing with the Second Squad ANBU now investigating the murder of Ox-mask, ANBU of the Third Squad, to get his report from a dispelled clone. The quarry had broken contact, but hadn't been able to avoid leaving some evidence. It might not be suitable for use in a trial, but it was enough for a more informal, ninja identification.

After the ANBU had left, he motioned the rest of his team, including Sensei, toward the most open area of the training field. When they were all in a huddle, each keeping their eyes and senses on a section of their surroundings, he began.

"I ain't got nose like a Inuzuka or an Aburame, but it was our grey-headed stalker. He got away real fast; ya' can't really keep a trailing going on a good ninja, at least I can't yet. Oh, and for a genin he sure is good… much too good."

Impatiently, Sakura contributed her expertise: "I saw the inside of Ox-mask's mouth. Purple spots on his tongue and palate. I've read about things like that. A real fast vegetative-based poison, but it's exotic, foreign and expensive. I've never gotten my hands on it before because… actually now I could afford it! Anyway… not something an average genin would use."

At his Sensei's nod Sasuke summed up: "Yakushi was here. An ANBU is killed with an exotic poison that a genin shouldn't have had. And Naruto is smirking because he had a clone that actually saw the whole damn thing anyway."

A long-suppressed laugh broke out of Naruto. "Yeah, but I was too far away to get there in time to do anything, so the clone just stayed in cover and dispersed a couple of minutes ago. Ya' know, it is real confusing sometimes to figure out how to talk about things when sometimes you're here, and sometimes you're there, and sometimes you're here and there."

"Naruto," Anko asked, "did the ANBU threaten Yakushi before the attack?"

"Nah, Ox-guy musta been running late or something; he was coming fast and oblivious from off the path that comes from the east. He basically tripped over spy-guy and took a header. He got out 'Who the hell are you?' and got nailed. Anyway, Sakura, Ox-mask got a few steps and then dropped, making the croakin' noise we heard, and Yakushi took off fast. I was going to save that for a real report, when we were in a secure location.

"Anyway, I don't think Yakushi saw anyone else, and since we know that the Hokage set this whole thing up, it looks like there was just a random screw-up. Maybe they'll catch the guy; for all I know he'll think it was just bad luck and won't even do a run. It's the Hokage's call, way above our pay-grade. I'm supposed to have a talk with him anyway; I'll do it today and pick up a bowl of ramen to boot."

_Naruto had his talk with the Hokage that afternoon, and his usual ramen. He brought back several messages: Team Seven was, Jonin and genin alike, to ignore Yakushi Kabuto except as a normal genin of Konoha. _

_An investigation would be held to see if Haruno Sakura had been negligently using lethally coated senbon needles while in a public training area. The eventual result would be inconclusive, and the death of ANBU Ox-mask would be a nebulous, dark but unproven, mark against her (and by extension the rest of Team Seven)._

_A phased release of funds due them from their recent mission would take place over the next five years, on a quarterly basis._

_While the investigation was taking place, Team Seven was suspended from both official training and all other missions. That would last for ten days._

"_Well, that sucks." said Sasuke. "We hadn't done anything, and ANBU knows it, and we get blamed for one of their screw-ups."_

_Naruto contributed with a comment it was really all Sakura's fault; the other kunoichi had found out how good she was getting and were trying to get her sidelined. Both Sakura and Anko gave him clouts on the head for that, but both appreciated the sentiment._

_Sasuke had a question. "Sensei, there are some Uchiha… clients is probably the best description. They live in Fire Country, about thirty-five klicks away. As the Clan Head I should probably check them out or something, right? Anyway, if you can get permission maybe I can get clearance to fulfill my Clan duties, and maybe take my teammates along to see how great the Uchiha were, and will be. It could look like we're getting punished by having to live rough or something, right?"_

"_So, genin, you think a week camping in the woods is better than hanging around town being bored? I'll talk to the Hokage about permission to fulfill your Clan Head duties for at least that long, and the obvious need for a Guard of Honor for someone so important." _

"_Really, Sensei, it's only about thirty-five kilometers!"_

_Anko shook her head and clucked a little noise of disappointment. "Would you rather have a week or so to really cut loose in training, away from spies, or just a day-trip to check out some dull-as-dirt farmers? "_

"_Sensei, the way I remember things, Nekobaa of Sora-ku isn't anyone's definition of dull-as-dirt."_

_Sasuke left it at that; it would be more fun to shatter their minds later. And Sensei was right (again); it would be a lot more fun to spend some time exploring Sora-ku, now that he was old enough not to need a grown-up as a nursemaid._

Sarutobi Hiruzen had over sixty years of finely-honed obscenities to call on. He had gone deeply into that store when his crystal had shown Kurita Kenta running into Yakushi Kabuto before the spy had managed to get ensnared into the trap the ANBU Second Squad had set up. The idiot had even been wearing his ANBU ox-mask, when he had actually been engaged in very unofficial business. Lying to your wife that you had an assignment early in the morning, and then using an actual morning off to speed by rarely-used paths to where your girlfriend had arranged a party in bed; that was certainly not official business, though hardly unknown.

The only a few good options: Kabuto had never actually seen the actual ANBU capture team, and if the right story got to his ears quickly enough the damage to the investigation of his activities would be minimally affected. It was a shame that Mrs. Kurita would have to be informed of her husband's unfaithfulness so publicly, but there was no other real choice, if the story was to be believable.

The other good part was Team Seven being so dutiful in accepting an unfair casting of suspicion on them. The semi-official temporary exile was just the thing to suggest they were out of favor, and Uchiha probably should check into how his family's connections were doing anyway, now that he was an official (in all ways other than fiscal) adult. Well, if for every Yakushi Kabuto they had three or four genin with the true Will of Fire in them, perhaps Konoha could endure for another few years.

_Yamanaka Ino, however, was confused by all the reports and rumors floating around about Team Killer. She'd been out with Sakura in the wild, and had trained hard against her. Sakura liked to use senbon all right, but she had always been very careful not to use any of her tightly corked bottles of toxins when a friendly had been in the line of fire. Carelessness like the rumors indicated; well, Sakura wouldn't do anything so foolhardy when Sasuke-kun might get scratched. _

_ Sasuke-kun… he had sent her a note on the classiest parchment regretting he couldn't be taking her out to dinner until he felt that his, and his Team's, reputation and honor had been cleared of all suspicions of un-professional conduct. It was so well written, so aristocratically formal (and the Uchiha were, after all, one of the four Noble Clans of Konoha), that she almost didn't think that he was just trying to dodge out his promise from the Land of Waves. _

_ Ino had asked Shikamaru about the whole confusing (at least to her) affair one day while they were over helping Choji's physical therapy. "It's something political," he said. "Something political, and complicated, and too tiresome to really care about. Team Anko didn't screw up, my dad said; they're just the fall guys for something. They've just been kicked out of the village for a little while, until this all blows over. It's really all about a jealous wife with political connections, and abuse of office and things like that. Like my mother says to my father all the time; its better not get the person who makes your supper too mad at you. Don't repeat this to anyone, though. Now go over to the target logs and set up some new bull's-eyes."_

_ That was welcome news. Now that she knew that Anko-sensei was putting up a front, Ino knew that Sasuke-kun wasn't running around with more than one crazy person on his team. And Naruto was usually pretty harmless._

Four kilometers outside of the South Gate of Konoha, Team Anko stopped for a moment. As sure as they could be that they were not being closely pursued, it was time for them to start practicing their trade craft. While the others scanned the surroundings for any spies, Naruto produced his standard three Shadow Clones, and then a fourth. The fourth was to stay in place, disguised as a sapling. The others were given various human disguises and were to keep behind the travelers and disperse if they noticed a suspicious follower. Preparations completed they set off at their best speed. While this Sora-ku hamlet might be a long day's walk for a civilian, for a Konoha ninjas in their own forest they could expect to arrive in time for a noon-time meal.

Team Seven noticed that there were no paths going in the direction of their travel, and no smoke from isolated trappers, squatters, or charcoal burners. Just the deep and green, ever-self-replenishing, trees that had sprung up at the command of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama.

Perhaps twenty-five or so kilometers out the woods began to rapidly thin, the ground began to be rolling hills of hard baked clay and stone, and the air became dusty and acrid smelling. On the maps at the Academy, Sakura remembered, this area was labeled as wastelands. Oh, and in Legends of the Founders, a story book she had read years ago, it said that the First Hokage had made First Forest grow so fast by taking all the fertility of some places and bringing it near to Konoha to feed his chakra created protections for the Village Hidden in the Leaves. By now she had learned not to bring up everything she knew to everyone's attention as soon as she remembered it. If someone asked later, it would be time enough then to show off. It was all part of their unspoken sacrifices for the unity of the Team. Naruto never pranked them, Sasuke actually made conversation, and she didn't rub their noses in how much more she knew of general things than they did. And both Naruto and she had long since stopped trying to date up their crushes at every opportunity.

By the time they couldn't use tree-hopping any more, Naruto was able to give the others a report that his first clone had seen no tracker leaving Konoha and getting on their trail. As they began to make their way through the eroded bluffs and down seasonal streambeds the other clones would be positioned as camouflaged as they could get in places where they could see several kilometers of the approaches to their route. Sasuke nodded; they were going to a special place to the Uchiha. Having some traitor follow them there would, somehow, almost feel like blasphemy.

After about an hour they came out of a little water-carved valley and saw Sora-ku. In front of it was an apron of baked clay and alkali-tainted pools of water, a few wretched and spiny plants poking their twisted way up to provide nests for dust-colored birds. On the other side of this portico of sterility was a line of cliff-like buildings, with endless rows of empty windows as they went up their eight or nine stories. No sloping and tiled or shingled roofs were to be seen. In the distance there were buildings that would have dwarfed the Hokage's Tower, with no sign of life except the occasional chirp of some insect, and, to the sharp eyed, some dried animal dung on the slightly visible path to what looked like a bazaar's welcoming gate. It had the traditional welcome sign for such places fixed between two tall pillars, "Welcome Customers." The sign's colors were faded, the raised script dusty. Sasuke took the lead and confidently walked up to the gateway, and inside.

_ "The fun part should start soon," Sasuke said. He was a little nervous that in the years since he had last been here (carried by __him__), things might have changed. Then he noticed Naruto moving his head in little jerks, the way he did when he was trying to precisely locate the source of a sound, and Sasuke was reassured. "Hina! Why don't come out and greet the Head of the Uchiha Clan and his guests? Don't worry; I don't have a stamp pad with me this time!" With that enigmatic statement Sasuke fell silent._

_ A cream and brown streak flashed out of the shadows toward Sasuke's chest. His quick reflexes managed to catch the shirt-wearing cat before it could bounce off again into the dark. Sakura had never seen such a huge smile on the Uchiha's face as his hand snuck to the belly of the animal and began to rub it. A loud purring filled the dusty street._

_ "Denka, is Hina mad at me? Usually she wants to meet visitors coming to the shop."_

_ Through the loud purring the others heard a raspy baritone voice: "She had to take the day off from hospitality patrol, Sasuke-sama. The kits need to learn to read, and I never learned myself."_

_ "So, you finally started a family? Have you thought about moving to the big city? Since… __then__ I've got lots of room, and you'd be the best company."_

_ "No, we're too settled in, and Nekobaa…"_

_ "Hold it! No more talking cats! Let me sort this out!" Haruno Sakura had finally hit her Weirdness Overload Limit, and needed a little…quiet time. Especially from talking cats._

Anko-sensei walked over to Sakura and put her arm around the trembling girl. Promising to catch up with the others, she sent them up to pay their respects to this Nekobaa character. Evidently she should have been paying a lot more attention to Sasuke when he had said that Sora-ku wasn't exactly an average little dirt-farming place. Live and learn; she would never call her bunch of cutups boring in the least.

Naruto was learning a lot by keeping quiet. Sasuke and… Denka was it? Anyway, they were discussing old times, and evidently better ones. Times before Uchiha Itachi went crazy and killed almost all the rest of the Uchiha; when he had been a big brother and carried Sasuke here to what was evidently one of the Uchiha Clan's oldest connections and sanctuaries. Naruto wasn't sure if he was jealous of Sasuke for having had a family, and once upon a time a loving brother. Or if he was immensely sad for him having had it all torn away. Remembering vague hints that right after the Uchiha Massacre Sasuke had been laid up in the Hospital for weeks, Naruto decided that unpressed sympathy was what his teammate deserved, and vowed to give it.

The path through the empty streets was clean of debris, but only a few other signs of habitation were visible. Finally Sasuke, without having to be reminded or led, turned up a side street. In the street itself were several cats, all of which turned their faces up to look at the unexpected visitors. Naruto expected either greetings, or a series of challenges, but only normal cat noises and reactions occurred. They turned into a double wide doorway to the right side, and ten meters into the large building they came into a huge room, furnished in a partially-stocked general-store-that-had-seen-better-days style.

Nekobaa, 'Grandma-cat,' was seated on a rug in the middle of the room, surrounded by five or six cats that looked up at the visitors with evident unease. Evidently the end of the Uchiha had been very bad for business here, and they were unused to company. The lady herself was leaving middle age, with iron-grey hair fluffed up, and a pair of cute-girly cat ears stuck on top of her head. There was even some makeup on her face mimicking a cat's features. She smiled when she saw who had come in.

"Uchiha-sama! So good of you to come to see us, in this old and abandoned place. Are you still collecting for your Encyclopedia? I'm sorry we have very little to offer you, but we didn't know you were coming again, and business has been poor around here, for some reason."

Sasuke surprised Naruto. The usually stiff and proud aristocrat replied, "I'll always be Sasuke-chan to you, Grandma-cat. I'm sorry I was so neglectful for so long, I'll make sure things are sent to you soon. I will revive the Clan, and you will be supported the way you deserve in the future!"

As her eye fell on him, Naruto gave a formal bow, better than the one he usually gave Jiji. It wouldn't have been decent to make Sasuke look bad, hanging around with rude people. "Uzumaki Naruto, Ma'am, genin of the Leaf and teammate to Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura, under our Jonin-sensei Mitarashi Anko. At your service!"

"And a nice, polite, genin you are, lad. So, Sasuke-chan, what can we do for you today?"

"You could make a list up of things I could have sent to you, when I get back to Konoha. And maybe you could find us places to practice that won't be missed much if we destroy them. And, of course, could we visit with Hina and her family?"

The older lady gave a chuckle, and asked if he had completely forgotten about Tamaki. From his blush it was obvious that Sasuke had (whoever Tamaki was). Denka was sent to gather his mate (or did talking cats have wives?), and Tamaki. From how little Nekobaa seemed to move, and from the spotless look of the half-empty shelves, Tamaki was probably a human spider with a dust mop in each hand. It was then that Anko-sensei and Sakura arrived, and made their greetings.

While the genin wandered around and looked at the contents of the shelves, Anko made small talk with Nekobaa, both very polite in probing for more information. Nekobaa wanted to know what had been happening in Konoha, especially since the elimination of the Uchiha. Anko was after the reason for people still living in a ruined city that seemed to be in a chakra desert. And were the ninja-cats a summons, or something else? Each was enjoying the game immensely.

For the genin, their search was interesting also. Some of the stuff was the most prosaic possible: garden tools, food of dubious age and safety, stationary, and other common stuff. Some of the things were useful, to ninja: kunai of watered steel, properly-sized holsters for shuriken (with straps), canteens and waterproof sheets. Finally there was a class of things that seemed inexplicable: a wooden stocked thing with two iron pipes sticking out of it, a small cracked box with buttons and switches on it and wires leading out, books with their titles written in no known script on the spine, next to others written in an even odder form of writing! It was like Nekobaa's store was the deserted corner of the World where all the winds blew things, and then dropped them.

Well before they were through (but well after Anko had to resign herself to Nekobaa's mastery of the art of chatter-fu) Denka came back, accompanied by his quarry. Hina turned out to be a cat much like him, wearing a belted top, cream colored with darker markings, and a tendency toward leaping into the arms of the first Uchiha she could see. Sasuke proved himself skilled at cat-juggling by handling both of them at once, to everyone's amazement.

Their brood was there also, with similar coloring, but naked and with rangy/slim builds of about five kilos each. To Sakura's surprise they sat themselves in a row, and dipped their heads in a respectful nod, before they honored the oldest of their cat traditions and stared curiously at the first Uchiha they had ever seen, if not hear about.

The last to enter caused Sakura to take an unconscious step forward to protect Sasuke. It was a tallish, older, brown haired and eyed girl. Down to the slight, cute blush, she was everything an impressionable young boy like Sasuke had to be protected against, for his own good! It did nothing to relieve Sakura's estimate of her dangerousness when this female inhaled to prepare to speak and revealed she was at least one bust size larger than the genin girl.

"Welcome, Lord Uchiha. I hope that I can make your stay here as enjoyable as our rough accommodations will allow. Honored Jonin and genin, this person is called Tamaki, and she is honored to be Nekobaa's granddaughter." She followed it with a subservient bow, and then looked up into Sasuke's face with a hesitant but hopeful smile. Her own face neutral, Sakura's right hand automatically slid down to where she had the hilt of a kunai within reach.

Nekobaa, seeing all and reacting quickly defused the situation saying, "Granddaughter, take Uchiha-sama here to the place where the special package is, you can chat him up as much as you like on the way, perhaps give him a sweet treat or two. Sakura-san, you should stay with us, I'll explain to you about ninja-cats. Anko-san seems to want you to understand what's going on here, and I have some schemes going on myself."

Reluctantly, Sakura joined the others on cushions while the shop-mistress prepared tea. As they sipped it, later, they noticed the sharp bitterness of its taste. Why a great city had ever been built in that sterile and unhappy place escaped them all.

_"This is one of those stories that you won't believe, so just chalk it up to being polite to an old woman who lives alone with not enough cats," Nekobaa began. "Before the world was changed this was the place the Uchiha lived in, this city of Sora-ku. They were rich and arrogant, and possessive, so you see that not everything changed after all. Though they did use a different name then. My family owed them a debt of money, and a debt of honor, so we served them even then. When the world changed… I see you've forgotten that, what __do__ they teach children these days… they were bold enough to go out and meet the new world head on. They were among the first to use chakra skills, and eventually one branch of the family had a descendent, the Sage of the Six Paths. What, you say you heard a different story about the Sage? Every baby has two parents, four grandparents, unless there has been some naughtiness in the family, and so on. The Sage was descended from a hundred families, and his hidden blood flows in a thousand by now."_

_ She took a sip of tea, and found in its bitterness a relish of sorts._

_ "The city survived, poorly perhaps, but the land nearby was good for farming and the old buildings stout enough to last until this day. The Uchiha kept us on through the bad times and good, putting my ancestors in eternal debt. When the Eldest son of the Sage took the name of Uchiha he gathered his family, including of those still in Sora-ku, and set up his own settlement. He left my family here, to be guardians of their interests, and to be a place of refuge and rest for his descendents at their need. That's why we kept the store; and live here yet._

_ "When the Senju Clan head completed their deal with the Uchiha to set up Kohnohagakure, and won the post of First Hokage, he promised to hide and protect your town in ever-growing forests. Well, to do that he needed to infuse the land with lots and lots of chakra to ensure its fertility. Where better to divert the natural flows of the life force away from but the ancient home and a major revenue source of the Uchiha, Sora-ku? So in a night the forests of the Village Hidden in the Leaves sprung up, and the fields and gardens of Sora-ku withered and died. And yes, that will get us to the ninja-cats now._

_ "When the whole world became filled with reachable chakra, even before the Sage of the Six Paths figured out all its tricks and rules, some of what were once wild beasts began to develop minds and speaking tongues. Or perhaps recovered them; this is a confused and misty thing. Anyway, some families noticed this faster than others, and instead of letting only the wild creatures having all the fun decided to aid and uplift the creatures that had been traveling with people from the earliest times. Some families choose dogs. Others, ravens. My folk chose cats, and we helped them breed for wisdom, and the ability to hold chakra, and use it. The Uchiha thought it an amusing, and occasionally useful thing to have the retainers of their retainers have such talented guardians of the granary and larder. Also, sometimes a watchbeast for the night."_

_ The woman took another sip, some people are like that, drawing things out and measuring how well they've hooked their audience by the degree of impatience they see._

_ "To make intelligent beasts takes time, skill, and chakra. We had that, and until all the chakra was drained from the land, leaving barely enough for things to stay alive, we slowly advanced our cats until they became ninja-cats. They still have problems doing some things… thumbs are very useful, but hard to breed for. The Neko-clan has a lot of chakra inside them, but without proper five fingered hands they can't write well, open some things, or do proper hand seals. So they keep the chakra inside and just augment what comes naturally."_

_ She took a piece of paper, and held it a finger's width away from Hina. The cat lifted up its paw, and extended its claws. Slowly it drew its paw down, getting no closer to the paper. It was sliced as cleanly as if a razor had cut it. _

_ The cat spoke sadly, "Stronger, faster, smarter, and sharper than a pet-thing. But with this chakra desert around us each generation is slowly losing ground; the changes aren't yet locked in the blood and bone. The others you see here are better cats, but they aren't ninja-cats, like their ancestors were. Denka and I were the only of our generation to still hold on, and we had trouble having kittens. I don't think our kits will be as strong as us, or be able to have talking and true-thinking kittens. __If they stay here!__"_

_ With that the cat swung her gaze around to the assembled ninja. The young ones looked up doing their best Kitten Eyes. Anko started to laugh._

_ "Only Uchiha Sasuke, as Clan Head, can give you permission to leave, and get to somewhere you can develop properly as ninja-cats, maybe even go further down the road. So you want us to convince Sasuke to take the kittens to Konoha, and establish a new colony. But you're afraid he'll think having this place is too convenient to give up, and tell you all to stay here. Hell, Konoha will never notice a few more cats; it will be just a few, right?"_

_ Nekobaa replied, "My own family has certain… gifts that have controlled and accelerated the development of Neko superior . To make sure the bloodlines are properly mixed, not too close and not too far, you should convince him to take one of my blood, to help with the gathering and manipulation of the life-force. My son left his daughter here and moved away when he realized the First Hokage's work meant that human fertility is also inhibited here. His wife had died in the child's birth, this is a stingy land in granting life; he wanted no more of her or his duties, and abandoned his obligations. There is no one here for my only descendent to marry and continue the line of servants to the Uchiha. This is improper."_

_ By now all the cats were doing their best to use the traditional power of their eyes to influence the ninjas, and if Nekobaa hadn't known how strange it would look she would have joined in._

_Despite her training with the Cute Technique, it was Sakura who first broke._

_ "I'll… I'll do my best to make sure that Sasuke follows through on taking the cats back home. And your granddaughter." The last came out with more than a slight tone of reluctance. _

_ "He's got all those empty houses in the Uchiha quarter that could probably use some pest removal. It'd keep the resale value up, not having so many mouse holes and stuff," was Naruto's contribution. A half-grown tabby rubbed her head against his hand until he petted it._

_ "Won't you get lonely here?" Anko asked._

_ "The Lord Uchiha promised he'd send supplies, and Tamaki deserves better than to become an old spinster in a dead city in the midst of… nothingness," was Nekobaa's only reply._

Tamaki and Sasuke returned; she with her slight blush and her head slightly tilted downward, him with a distracted air and a small book held in a death-grip in his right hand. When Anko opened up her backpack and unpacked a scroll with a supply of food (including dango, of course), he ate his part with a far-off expression. Nekobaa and Tamaki fell on the stuff like a gourmet delicacy. They had been dependent for too long on what could be scrounged locally, and what occasional extremely foolish prospectors would trade to them for tools and water that was marginally better than that to be found out in the wastelands.

The next morning they found the proper place to practice their craft at full strength, without spying eyes and political considerations and plots. A large park, now a dead field with an empty children's playground at one end and a dry pond bed nearby to practice running fights and soft landings.

Sakura worked on her Quick Needle Technique, gaining power and building up her chakra, but not gaining all that much more accuracy. Naruto watched her cursing at not being able to actually hit a target much further out than if she had thrown the things at regular speed, and got a germ of an idea. He talked it over with Anko, and then Sasuke. Finally the two boys shook hands on it, and agreed that Sakura's birthday present next month would be a proper one for a rising kunoichi.

Sasuke worked at developing his digging jutsu, slowly increasing the amount he could move. Seeing him working on this, Anko-sensei had him use the papers prepared for Elemental Affinity. Since he was an Uchiha it didn't surprise her that he was strong in the use of Fire. Figuring that the other genin would be jealous if she didn't give them equal treatment she tested them also. Naruto had the potential of using Wind as his element, Sakura was well fitted to learn the secrets of Lightening.

Anko began working immediately with Sasuke. Her elemental nature being the same as his, it made sense. She knew a few people back in Konoha that worked with Wind, one in particular that she could put pressure on, and who was well-disposed to Naruto anyway. But for the life of her the only Konoha ninja she had ever heard about who did much with Lightning were Hatake Kakashi (deceased) and Tsunade-hime (currently whereabouts unknown). Well, if having the Hokage's son's stealth girlfriend as your best buddy wasn't a way to find out if there were any good Lightning users in Konoha, she couldn't think of a better one.

After six days of exhausting, bruising, and terrain-damaging fun, the party made ready to return to Konoha. The ninja party was augmented with all six of the fully developed ninja-kittens, as well as the six other Sora-ku cats that were closest to achieving the full development. Tamaki, carrying an assortment of scrolls with complicated genealogical charts, some strange ritual objects, dried cat food, and two changes of her work clothing, completed the ensemble. The genin were each gifted from Nekobaa's declining stockpile of charka conducting wire. It would move, when charged with its wielder's chakra, quickly advancing, retreating, or turning right or left at the will and command of its master. There were hints that the origins of Suna's famous Puppet-Masters lay in some variation of this material.

The expression "as easy as herding cats" meant, of course, not easy at all. Yet having twelve cats walking with them, as well as a civilian, turned out to be merely slow, and not actually frustrating. The ninja-kittens helped keep the others going in the right direction, as did Tamaki's subtle contacts with the chakra still lurking within them. As cats are not long distance walkers at the best of times, and none of the new colonists had ever been outside of their dying city before, they kept close to the only familiar people of authority in their new world, Tamaki and their new Lord Uchiha. As the familiar-appearing sterility around Sora-ku slowly turned into the strange and fecund forest that surrounded Konoha, the cats (ninja and the others, too) kept getting closer to the familiar humans, sometimes trippingly close. By the middle of the first day on the road the ninja had taken to giving at least a few of the cats a rest by carrying them for an hour or so each, and frequent stops. Tamaki appreciated these too; she was fit enough from going up and down the streets and stairs of Sora-ku, but long distance walking used a few different muscles than she was used to exercising.

It took them over two full days to get back to Konoha, the cats and Tamaki all footsore. The nin-cats were briefed to act merely cat-like; Tamaki to be a servant girl to be pitied for the excessive burdens she would be carrying. Just before they came into view of the gate-guards, Sasuke put a henge on her, exactly like her in appearance, but with bundle after bundle of things strapped to her back. She made sure to stagger a little as she came up to the gates and was registered as a domestic servant to the Uchiha Clan, residence in their compound in town. The cats were all walking about, seemingly aimlessly, and as the ninja entered into the town Naruto created some clones, disguised as street urchins, in the shadow of a nearby alley, to follow them unobtrusively.

Author's note:

One Ryo should be considered about .07 euro. Also about $.10 US


	7. Chapter 6

I do not own, or receive any benefit, from the Naruto Properties.

A Teacher's Glory: A Union of Rejects: Chapter 6

By Larry Huss

It took over three days for Hyuga Hinata to hear that Team Seven had been allowed to come back into the village and live among civilized folks.

Her reported blush, and the traceable way the news had reached the Hyuga, put her far down on the list of possible traitors. She should have been better informed and less transparent.

It had taken less than three hours after their return for Yakushi Kabuto to stake out the Uchiha residential quarters to see how things were there.

Yakushi's promptness and all night vigil in his favorite observation spot in the Uchiha area was duly noted.

Yakushi Kabuto had shivered all night under the dripping mist of early autumn. It hadn't seemed as bad while Uchiha was still outside practicing his clumsy sword cuts; at least then Kabuto knew he had a fellow sufferer, and there was something to take note of and report. When it had gotten darker he had crept in closer to observe what was happening in the big, nearly empty, house. Now that Uchiha had picked up a pretty maidservant, it was important to see what other changes had occurred in the life-patterns of Orochimaru-sama's potential eye donor. It was awkward, and dangerous, getting so close to his subjects, but it was important to fully pin down if Sasuke-chan had finally had his balls drop, and was bedding the girl. At least the cats that were suddenly infesting the Uchiha compound weren't the overly friendly sort that would wind around your ankles and trip you up. Where had they all come from?

At least that mystery was cleared up when Kabuto found the right window to look inside and saw the girl had set up some sort of a cat-shrine with candles, figurines, stands with what were evidently the Holy Books of Cat-dom, and lots of little bottles of what must be cat-vitamins that he saw her dosing her pets. So the little beasties were hers. So many… Kabuto didn't envy the Uchiha if he did take the girl as his mistress. Cat-ladies were seriously weird people in his book.

Well, at least that evening nothing sportive seemed to have occurred in the Haunted Mansion of the Uchiha. Damn; Kabuto knew that the lack of positive action meant he would have to spend more time on other nights checking up to see if Sasuke had developed a romantic interest in the girl. The more emotional weaknesses you found in your prey, the better they could be manipulated. And the day was approaching when Uchiha Sasuke would have to be manipulated like a dancing puppet on a string.

_Sarutobi Hiruzen had decided, after the fiasco of an attempt at capturing Yakushi Kabuto, that perhaps it was better after all to give him some more rope. The false genin (the ease with which he had killed a member of ANBU proved that) had already led Konoha Internal Security to several useful, if embarrassing, discoveries. While the true loyalties of Kabuto's team Jonin-sensei were uncertain, his two genin teammates were imposters, substituted for real Konoha ninja within the last two years. There had been the odd murder, of course, to eliminate the few family members that couldn't be easily avoided. That alone had been enough for the Hokage to cancel his first simple order for an interrogation and a merciful killing. There was now too much blood to avenge until all the facts, connections, traitors, and most importantly, weak spots in Konoha security were dealt with properly. They still didn't know yet exactly who Kabuto had sold out to; an insanely careful search of all of his effects had found several chakra-sealed documents that couldn't be opened without either self-destruction or alerting Yakushi that he had been made out. _

_Sarutobi had done something that would have been unthinkable to him several years ago; he had started posting civilians with a limited range of skills to watch and report on the bolt-holes and meeting places of the conspirators. The civilians were never to go active in pursuit of their subjects, but frequently a life in the underground economy had trained their eyes and ears to a level that had proven surprisingly useful to the Hokage. The main trouble was there seemed to be more things going on than expected, and Sarutobi was certain that alongside of the Kabuto Ring there were surprisingly many agents of Konoha's homegrown Root, civilian criminal schemes, and perhaps at least one other foreign intelligence network being reported to. He really was too old for this job, and even the work he could delegate to Morono Ibiki and Yamanaka Inoichi didn't relieve him of enough of the burden._

Yamanaka Ino tried to get over to the Uchiha compound and see if the rumors that Sasuke had taken up a mistress were true, but except for a quick 'welcome home' visit that missed her obsession, she just didn't have the time. Dropping off a carefully prepared message in the language of flowers with the maid, Ino had had to run over to help with Choji's rehab, and her own Kunoichi training. Ino wasn't very happy with herself. Despite Choji being… Choji… and working his ass off without complaining, she was resentful of the burden on her time it took to go over there every day to help train and cheer him up. If the laziest ninja in town wasn't always there earlier and staying later she would have probably slacked off. But if Shikamaru could actually work hard for his teammate and friend, so could she. And feel bad about herself for being so resentful.

At least the maid at Sasuke's, though attractive, wasn't wearing any special jewelry or 'above her station' clothing. Her extensive reading of romance novels had educated Ino to the stages of the evolution of the pretty-but-humbly-born-maidservant from charwoman to Mistress of the Manor; occasional extravagant gifts from the Lord of the Manor were always a symptom of that progression. It was hard to really dislike the girl anyway; she was so good with cats. Ino had always wanted a kitten, but the one thing that her parents had always been really strict with her had been in allowing no pets in the house; they would get into the greenhouses and destroy some of the rarest plantings, she had been told.

Now Sensei had told them that a Chunin exam was going to be held in Konoha, and if they felt they were ready he would recommend to the Hokage that they should be allowed to compete. Unfortunately the poison the Demon Brothers had dosed Choji with had set him far back in both regular ninja studies and his family's specialties. Since they dealt with massive bodily transformations they needed tons of energy and a metabolism that was working properly. No matter how hard he trained (and ate), he wasn't gaining his strength or putting his weight back on fast enough to be at his best next month. So Sensei was leaving the decision up to them to decide if they were ready for this. Ino wasn't sure if this was a good thing (if it was Choji's condition that kept them from competing she wouldn't have to wonder if the whole idea was too scary for a less-than-a-year-in-service Shinobi), or an obstacle on the path to proving to Sasuke she was a fabulous ninja by becoming a Chunin at the first opportunity that came up. Truly: "The path to victory is paved with many obstacles!"

_Hyuga Hinata's performance continued to puzzle her Jonin-sensei. Sometimes she was merely there, sometimes the things she would do were inspired, and sometimes she completely fell apart. Anko-chan had suggested to Kurenai that Hinata was another Sasuke fan, and was suffering from excessive mood-swings as the reports (almost always inaccurate) of the Uchiha's love life spread through the town's teen-culture. But when Kurenai had suggested that Hinata try out her grasp of the Hyuga "Gentle Fist" hand-to-hand style against Sasuke's well-developed Taijutsu, the girl had been mildly enthusiastic and interested; not either romantically soaring or going terminally shy. It was only when a casual comment had mentioned the other members of Team Seven would be present did a marked reaction occur. Kurenai began to quietly take note how the heiress reacted to certain names…_

Damn, damn, damn, damn Itachi! Sasuke had no doubt that his brother was insane. What he wasn't sure of now was whether he had been insane before the Uchiha Massacre, or only driven mad afterwards.

Slowly his life had begun to creep back into the painful ache it had been before their Genin Acceptance Test. It wasn't the presence of someone always around the house, and even neatening up the nearby streets and gardens of the Uchiha Quarter. It wasn't waking up each morning to find the same one of the not-quite-ninja cats had been sleeping next to him. It was a little bit his team, but hardly anything wrong that they were doing, just that they were so close to being people he would be able to trust with anything and yet he couldn't be sure. Sakura: probably. Naruto: probably not; he was only trustworthy in matters of life and death, money, and holding any sane secrets. Anko: certainly not. Under the carefree, hedonistic, and carelessly violent public persona she used, Anko-sensei was serious, smart, and loyal. But maybe loyal to the wrong things and people, for Sasuke's needs.

It was the Diary's fault.

It was the damn Diary he had been given at Sora-ku, Itachi's Diary, which had been dropped off there as he fled the scene of his crimes. The Diary Nekobaa had thought should be the property of the last Uchiha who was trying to keep the clan going, and deserved to be called the Clan Head. Sasuke wanted to be angry at her, but he agreed with her actions. He was the Clan Head of a clan of one; any others were criminals and were by village law and custom expelled from their previous families.

At the end of the writing in the book, in the last few passages written by someone clearly under too much pressure, there were a few fragmentary sentences that might mean something terrible. As it was, Sasuke was positive of what they meant, but… was it merely a crazy man writing and a crazy boy reading? The fate of Clan Uchiha was at stake, not to mention his own life. How could it all be confirmed and pinned down so that he had no more doubts, about either the facts or his own sanity in interpreting them?

'Father won't listen, Mother won't listen. They're sure that on the day blood-loyalty will drag everyone in.'

'The good are weak, the bad are strong. Boss folded, but did it matter? Our Clan leaders wouldn't listen to him when he tried compromise. Father will get his way, and the Boss will crush us.'

'In the end they talked Boss around, he always crumbles when UK gets bossy, I think they once had a thing. It was SD who was the motivator though, why else did he show up at the meetings? His motive, jealousy for his Root? Always bridesmaid, never Hokage?'

'Not Sasuke! Not him.'

'I was already bloody, and the Ancestor came. Why wasn't he dead? He should be dead. He offered to help, and save Sasuke if I disciplined him. I said yes, I couldn't do the children anymore.'

'Get strong Brother, kill me. Kill us, especially get the Ancestor, he has no excuse.'

There were dozens of pages more, of course. These were the ones the Clan Head had to understand rightly, or everything done would be a pitiful waste. Sasuke had been training himself to follow Sensei's instructions of observation, analysis, planning, preparation, and action. Something like this deserved to be handled thoroughly; more data was needed than the only three facts that were certain.

Itachi had been involved with the Massacre.

Uchiha Sasuke hadn't been killed. Not him.

Before everything fell apart, Father and Mother had been involved in something that they had been certain would involve the entire clan, even though much of it had evidently not been informed in advance.

The last was the least certain, but it seemed to set the stage for the whole 'Boss' thing crumbling and the Uchiha getting crushed. Who exactly the Boss, UK, SD and the Ancestor were was up in the air, but the boss to an ANBU like Itachi would have been either his squad leader, or the Hokage. It seemed that there was no problem with UK advising the Boss, but SD was a surprise. SD was a disappointed Hokage candidate. With a Root. Vulgarity for the male organ? Mystic chakra gardening society? When did Itachi go mad; could anything he wrote be believed? Sasuke knew he needed more data.

If the Hokage was involved Anko couldn't be trusted; she practically worshipped the man. Naruto called him familiar nicknames, but he was willing to criticize him. Tricky; he had a lot going on inside his head. Sakura… actually, Sasuke realized that he had underestimated or misunderstood Sakura pretty often, right from the start. If he had more information… Sakura and Naruto. Only crazy people could stand trusting nobody, and Sasuke had had enough of being crazy.

_They were back in the Forest of Death. It felt safe and comfortable to them, with Naruto's screen of clones as an outer perimeter guard. Four of the ninja-cats were getting their first outing; in case of disaster, their Master had said, this would be their rally point, so they better get used to the paths and dangers of the place._

"_Any big news?" asked Anko-sensei._

"_Yoko-cat said her first word yesterday. It was 'happy.' Tamaki says just being in a normal chakra environment is helping the almost-there cats advance. She'll be letting breeding start in another month or two, only three at a time, and only two kittens each." Sasuke seemed very happy with his announcement; Yoko was his favorite._

"_Quick Needle is dangerous up to about forty meters… or would be if I could actually hit anything. Regular senbon are pretty weak at twenty. Tamura Tenten does better, but she holds the Academy all-time records for accuracy with throwing things. I mean __all__ the Academy records for __all__ throwing things!" Sakura notice her fellow genin smirking at some secret joke, but she held her temper. "I've got 'Cute Technique' down pat, and in honor of Naruto finally explaining to us how he approaches these things I've been working on this." With that, without changing the appearance of a hair, Haruno became the sexiest being they had ever seen. _

_Anko was very impressed that Sakura hadn't even seemed to use a hand seal; perhaps the girl's lessons with Kurenai had been even more successful than the Genjutsu mistress had indicated. It was only with a supreme effort that Anko wasn't moving toward the girl, dropping her clothing as she went. The boys were rendered safe by their inability to concentrate enough to find the fastenings to their garments._

_Suddenly Sakura was just… Sakura again. Anko was relieved, and the boys extremely embarrassed and impressed._

"_I realize I'll have to work on moderating it, and also get you guys immune so it won't screw things up if I have to use it on a mission. Maybe I can get a little advice on a counter here, guys? I'm also working on 'Repulsive' and 'Convincing.' But I don't want to show them off until I get control of the power settings, so to speak."_

"_Yes, very good Sakura. Power settings and immunity, very important. Also teaching exactly how you do it. If only Sasuke had a singling voice you could infiltrate anywhere as a girl's entertainment act." Anko was very eager for the immunity part; having an affair with a girl student had never been one of her objectives on accepting the Sensei position._

_Naruto cleared his throat and shook his head for a second, then presented his contribution: "I got my new jutsu down pretty controllable, and mostly non-damaging. I'm callin' it Chakra Flood now, 'cause it pretty much overwhelms any organized chakra like a flood would a house. It still does some damage on the receiving end, though. Sorry, Sasuke, there isn't any seal, it's just me._

"_I got Blasting, Flash, Smoke tags down, and time and pressure fuses. I'll be giving you each a bunch pretty soon. If I could get your jutsu running with my 'Sexy Jutsu', Sakura… I'd probably be too scared to use it. I do have 'Idiot Jutsu' ready."_

_With that the boy did a one handed seal, and became slightly… less than the Naruto they knew. He was a little buck toothed, a bit shaggy haired and his smile was… idiotic. They immediately knew that anyone who could invent such a stupid thing was, and always had been an idiot, and if they left him alone in this forest clearing he had been in a hundred times before he would never find his way home, and it would be a __good__ thing. Another one handed seal and Sakura said, "Only you could be so brilliant as to invent such a stupid technique!" It took the others a minute to get the joke. Then she continued, "So blend 'Sexy,' 'Lust Goddess…' or as I call it, 'God' in male form… and 'Idiot Technique' and we have the perfect bimbo for an infiltration."_

"_Or for a party," said Naruto._

_Sensei took charge of the assembly again. "I've got us meeting here because I want to tell you my evaluation of you, without any unwanted listeners." Anko picked up a cloudy-patterned ninja-cat, and began to scratch behind its ears. "Assume that any skill level I indicate is at least at high genin-low Chunin level, unless otherwise noted. Assume Naruto's chakra control is beginning genin, Sakura's solidly Chunin._

"_Taijutsu- Sasuke is solidly Chunin. General survival and housekeeping techniques- Naruto is solidly Chunin. General knowledge and toxicology- Sakura is beyond me, and needs advanced training I'm looking to get for her._

"_Kenjutsu- Sasuke is solidly Chunin, with Naruto just behind him. Genjutsu- Sakura is doing well, and as far as disguises and the like I want to get permission from the Hokage for you to be the 'Aggressor Group' in a security exercise. I expect you to win if that works out."_

"_We would all be doing better at sword and spear drill if we didn't have to be clumsy half the time because of the wrong eyes being on us." Sasuke was bitter about having to not do his best for security reasons. Naruto agreed, and offered his opinion on the subject:_

"_I know Kabuto-chan is really at least Chunin level, but I think if we'd been running the ambush that day, we could have gotten him. He'd want to get in close, we're just a bunch of dumb genin; we see him, invite him to play with us. And Wham! Someone else has a fatal poison accident. Not a sure thing, but we're just clumsy genin, and it's not as if ANBU didn't screw up."_

_Anko protested that the unfaithful husband was really a wild factor that couldn't have been accounted for. Sasuke found himself admiring Naruto's reasoning. Sakura realized a basic flaw in the plan, and brought it up._

"_We know he's way above his official skill level, but what is he __actually__? Does he have a blood limit or family series of techniques? Going for an assassination deserves a lot more research. I wouldn't mind taking the rap; the bastard killed one of ours, and a cutie," with that Sakura became the most adorable little big-eyed girl, "wud be forgiffen a widdle mishtake. Wight, senshe?" Another hand sign and she was their normal ninja. "But we really need to know more about him."_

"_We lay off Yakushi, that's the Hokage's order." Anko was firm, perhaps more vehement than normally, or how she felt personally. She had liked Naruto's plan also; she could have distracted the bastard for a moment, and then an awful accident would have happened._

_Sakura was right, Sasuke conceded, but Naruto had easily put together a workable skeleton for a plan. Anko had squashed it, but as their Sensei, that was her job, after all. That's what made his gut ache; he liked these people and couldn't make up his mind about telling them everything he feared._

_Anko decided to get to the point. "There is a special event, starting next month; an international competition for genin to show their stuff, and maybe get promoted to Chunin. I think you could handle it. You decide, as a group, to enter because it starts as an all-or-nothing. I'm setting up some cross training of specialties; like Sakura gets with Yuhi Kurenai in Genjutsu, for each of you. Also the best I can do for elemental affinity training. Make up your minds over the next few days, and get back to me. It can be dangerous. You'll have time to think; for the next week we'll be doing an extended D-rank sweep of the Akashi Mountains as a group of peddlers selling tinwork out in the backwoods. Nothing special going on there, but I thought you'd appreciate some time outside the town before the weather turns nasty, and getting a feel for the land is always a good idea. _

"_We meet outside the North Gate at 6 tomorrow morning. We're all male, poor but not ragged, I'd advise no whiskers, blonds or pink hair. Otherwise just use old clothes. You'll be learning bargaining, metalworking and at night we'll be too poor to use inns, so out in the woods we can do some more heavy practice. Don't worry, Naruto, we'll have some real animals to carry civilian supplies and trading goods."_

"_Sensei," the cat in her arms said, "since you'll have something doing all the long walking, can two of us come along?"_

_Anko hadn't even startled; she had known what she was picked up after all. "Sounds good. Cats lend class to an act." Much purring was heard on the trip back to Konoha._

In fact, the security sweep turned out more of a camping trip than a serious mission. The closest it got to becoming dangerous was scaring off a bear that had been too curious about their supplies one night. Bargaining for a half of a ryo discount was a spectator sport when Saki (Sakura) took over the duties, having proven that she had learned a lot more than she had realized from her shopkeeper parents. Nobu (Naruto) was showing a definite flair for repairing light tin-ware, using either regular fire or the few fire related jutsus Shin (Sasuke) had been able to teach him. During the day, except when they were actually close to people, Shin talked to his cats, teaching them the art of the ninja (the Mitarashi Anko Way!), which involved observation, contemplation, and decision. He also was trying to work out some way for them to do some regular jutsus, despite being very short of thumbs. It was Naruto's suggestion that maybe they should try to substitute their rear feet for some of the finger positions that got Sasuke thinking. He didn't have it yet, but it shouldn't be impossible.

At night, off the road, like any sensible travelers who didn't want to be run down by some mounted noble or messenger or found by a night moving band of robbers (a Shadow Clone was always posted next to the road, of course), they practiced for several hours at their fullest strength. The cats managed to get a cutting effect at twice the length of their claws, and leap astounding distances. Wooden swords met each other in fierce battles ranging from one to one, to all against Sensei. Their cool-down was working on their special team techniques. Then each would do their chakra related specialties for a while, before bed. Sensei, thinking of a possible implication of the boys' secret birthday gift for Sakura, worked with Sasuke on a variation of his Fire Release technique that would have a greater effective range, and a more concentrated heat for the amount of chakra he put into it. Sasuke said that when he had mastered it (which for Team Seven meant doing it one handed when anyone else would need two, and doing it twice as fast as anyone else could at all) it would be called Fire Lance. By the next to last day Sakura had figured out to lower her energy levels on "Lust Goddess" (and "God" also, to Anko's relief) a little, and the others had also started to develop a degree of lust-jutsu immunity.

They were cheerful as they came home; even the dripping rain wasn't really unpleasant. They agreed to meet for a nice hot-springs bath, after dropping off their gear and before dinner; going to the hot springs had become something of a ritual for them when they got back within the walls.

When Sasuke was the last to come in to the hot pool area, leading a Tamaki who was terrified at being naked in front of other people, the Team was surprised, but not shocked. Sakura was worried that he was going to announce that he had taken their relationship to another level, but that would be painful to her, not really shocking. Naruto noticed how angry Sasuke appeared, then he looked more carefully at the trembling girl. There was a red-stained bandage on her left arm.

"Tamaki," Sasuke said. "Here we aren't masters and servants, but students and teachers and friends. Tell our teacher; tell my friends what you told me."

The girl took a deep breath. Her head shot up, and her shoulders were thrust into a full-brace position. Staring straight ahead, she began to speak:

"Two days after you had gone off, a man came to call. He was young, but had grey hair and wore glasses. He asked impertinent questions about Master Uchiha's relationship with me. I wouldn't answer, so he touched me in places, and it started to hurt, but there were no bruises or anything. He said that he could kill me, and no one would ever know how, because he knew medicine chakra things. He said that I should spy on Master Uchiha, or he would do things that would make me always feel pain. Then he reached out, with just his finger, and it cut through my sleeve and I started to bleed. He said that I wouldn't heal until he got his first report. I had to use a hand sign to stop the cats from attacking; he was amused at their hissing. He'd have just killed them.

"He told me a place to put a message for him, and left. He was right, my arm hasn't healed, and it still bleeds slowly. The cats tracked him to his home, but he isn't in most nights, and he's too fast for them to keep up.

"You're very nice, and I'm happy to have met you, but if Master Uchiha wants to send me away or.,, or do whatever he needs so I am not a danger to him, I understand and accept it. Just please look after the cats."

Sakura got out of the hot pool and walked over to the girl. She unwrapped the bandage around Tamaki's arm, and looked at the slowly oozing blood. "Exactly over an important vein, a little deeper and it would have been dangerous." Sakura sniffed the bandage.

"Yes, I tried medicines and astringents on the cut. It doesn't even slow up. Compression doesn't work either. I could deal with the pressure-point bruises, but the cuts don't seem to heal," Tamaki said.

Anko got up and started to dry herself off. "I have to report this; if he's attacking us… you will, of course, write a fine report and leave it where he said. I'll help you write it tomorrow." She left on her way to the Women's Dressing Room.

Sakura helped the girl bandage up the wound again, then rinsed her down before leading her into the pool, making sure the arm was kept out of the water. Tamaki sighed with relief; she hadn't felt safe bathing or sleeping since her attack. Now she felt like a girl resting in a den of wolves… her wolves.

In the steam-misted room, the bathers sat quietly for a while. The management of the spa had decided, on learning exactly who their customers were ("Team Killer," "Crazy Anko's bunch," "Psychos"), to steer their other patrons to some of the different pools, if at all possible. Sasuke got out of the water, went around the area and checked for eavesdroppers. Tamaki and Sakura both realized that they were checking out the Uchiha, and looked away with a jerk. Naruto put a rueful grin on his face; Sakura still had her thing about Sasuke, and now it looked like Tamaki was the same. Maybe the guy really was a chick magnet, even without the whole tragic story thing.

Sasuke got back into the pool, motioned the others into a huddle. "Tamaki, what we say here you repeat to no-one without our permission." The girl nodded; all the lonely times with only grandma and the cats (not exactly a complete social life for a young girl, no matter how they tried) were worth it, to be here, now, on the inside of Uchiha-sama's circle. Sasuke gave a nod to Naruto. Things like this were his department.

"We give them a week. Yeah, Sensei is right, you give the bastard reports with what we want him to think he knows, and he heals you. He knows medical techniques? That means he probably has some hook in at the Hospital, so if we took you there he'd find out about it. We can't risk him not having something going on there, anyway. We start investigating him tonight. Don't care what Sensei says about that. We give them a week, and if they haven't started things for his killing, we do. By then we should know enough.

"I know we might not be being all that smart, and from a spy-catching thing we're wrong. But you're a citizen of the Leaf, and innocent of any crime. We're ninja of the Leaf, and it's our job to protect you, it's in the Founding Compact and all. And anyway, now it's personal. Gods and demons, that sounds childish, but it's true. Kabuto-teme came after us, not us after him. He'll only know the lesson for a second, but he'll learn that doing something like that is waaay stupid the last second he's alive."

With that he rose out of the water, leaned over and kissed Tamaki on the forehead. Sakura kissed her on the left cheek, Sasuke on the right. It just seemed the only thing to do, binding themselves in some spontaneous conspiracy to get her justice. Tamaki blushed redder than the hot water would have induced alone. It didn't help that at the start of this solemn moment Naruto had left nothing hidden by the water when he had reached over to her. The nakedness somehow made everything more… 'powerful' wasn't the right word, but it was the closest she could come to it. She also knew now that the ancient book on the Pillow Arts that grandma had given to her to study (just in case) on the day she had first had her monthly was right. Stud muffins could make a girl as avidly perverted as hot babes made guys.

Afterwards, they had a sort of emotional cool-down period before leaving the hot springs spa, and Tamaki answered questions about her chakra, and how she used it to work (slowly) in creating a new race of sapients. That she was slightly able to enter the emotions and minds of even the non-talking cats was news even to Sasuke; that she had been able to learn from them just enough to make her nails sharper and infinitesimally longer was even more so. The genin's surprise and interest boosted Tamaki's spirits, if they believed in her, accepted her, she could find the courage to deal with the creepy, scary man with the cold and cruel soul.

_Yakushi Kabuto was an observed man, and didn't realize it. Even the ANBU who were on his case didn't know that another surveillance team was there. A sudden increase in felines in his neighborhood wasn't noticed; ninja-cats could drive away even far larger street bullies with their intelligence and augmented speed and claws. Within three days, several of his 'safe houses' and message drops had been marked out by having his paths slowly reconstructed, piece by piece, on a large map of Konoha in Naruto's apartment. It had taken lots of disguised clones, wearing the faces and forms of old and young, male and female, human and not, but years of careless success had led the spy to bad habits. And bad habits are dangerous. Anko-sensei had been right; Naruto was an intelligence network by himself._

_On consideration, the benefits of having the maid as the Uchiha's mistress were so obvious that on their next meeting Kabuto, after healing the wound on the pale girl's arm, ordered her (if she hadn't already) to begin sleeping with her master. Pillow talk was a sure way to the truth, and lately Kabuto had felt that Uchiha's rate of progress seemed… unusually slow for one who had been the top student at the Academy so recently. Almost as if he was concealing his true talents, much like Kabuto himself!_

_When the girl protested that as an innocent and shy virgin, raised in an isolated part of the world, she couldn't just __do__ something like that, Kabuto debated raping her himself, to eliminate her objections. He decided against it; while he could easily heal the inevitable bruising and bleeding, he was certain that her behavior would be so altered afterwards as to cause… complications. Instead he promised her a more chemical solution when they met two days hence._

_On the evening when she received the little bottle of a powdered aphrodisiac, Sakura helped her do the analysis. They decided on what a young woman's proper response to it would be, and concocted a suitable broken and fragmented story of a large dose to stimulate the bashful girl, and a much smaller one for the randy ninja boy. To that they added a little side note about how frustrated Sasuke was that Anko wasn't teaching him any really good killer chakra techniques. That would agree with what the spy had been seeing when he observed the Team on the local training grounds. What Kabuto didn't know, besides the real extent of their skills, was that even when he saw the Team doing ordinary, uninspired training at the various grounds, they were lying to him. _

_Desperate not to waste all their time while they were training in town, just to fool a traitor, Anko-sensei had taken a hint from Mighty Guy, and secretly had gotten weights for her students to wear under their outer clothing. Not the insane amounts that Guy or his favorite student wore, but still enough to boost their strength at all times, and their speed when the weights came off. The only drawback from the Team's viewpoint was that it meant that when a solid hit landed it had a lot more power behind it, and the boys didn't like marking up Sakura. They still did it, they just didn't like it._

_Naruto and Sasuke took delivery of their multi-part gift for Sakura, and tested it as well as they could. Sensei had gotten their answer about going for the Chunin Exam at noon on the first day they had been on their mission; now Sakura would have a chance to practice with the gift before the event. One thing they were sure was that as this was a ninja contest, deadly force was the level to be prepared for. _

_That evening, though, a traumatic event in the life of Uchiha Sasuke was to occur. He would go on his long-delayed date with Yamanaka Ino. Naruto, and even a reluctant Sakura, had convinced him that as the Head of the Uchiha a promise like he had made was a debt of honor. So at Seven sharp, a yukata-clad (informal, but classy) Uchiha Sasuke picked up a disbelieving Yamanaka at her home. Up until the last minute she had thought that he would have discovered some excuse to duck out. All evening she had the strangest feeling that some ridiculous manga-comedy collection of Sasuke's other admirers would suddenly crash into the restaurant they ate at, the garden they strolled in to see the moon reflected over a pond, or the tea shop they where they had a cup and a snack at on the way home._

_But there was no disturbance, no crowd of screaming idolizers, no comic interludes. Sasuke was fairly quiet, but he did talk, chuckled a little at the right things, and asked her questions about herself and her team. It wasn't what she had expected at all. Her fantasy had been high romance with a chance of premature passion. Her fears had been boredom or obvious dislike. Instead she got a Sasuke completely different than either. He had acted like what her father would have called a 'nice boy.' Ino didn't know whether she should be relieved or disappointed. Did she really want a 'nice boy,' or did she want an enigmatic, brooding, lone wolf?_

_He made no promises, and gave no hints about future outings, but with the next few months being filled with the Chunin Exams that just made sense. He gave no hint if Sakura or the girl at his house had an 'understanding' with him. Ino had fulfilled a dream she had had since school and the only thing she could say for certain was that it had been different from what she had expected._

_Once back at his house, Sasuke had thanked a ragged Sakura and Naruto, who had been having a fake date (with Sakura as Sasuke and Naruto as Sakura, for reasons Sakura refused to completely explain) and distracting four separate attempts at interference in Sasuke's evening. Perhaps the sizzling hot plate of grilled veggies that had been 'accidentally' knocked into Sakura's (Naruto's) lap was, after all, enough of an explication in the end. The other incidents had been less damaging and painful, to Naruto's relief. The path young Ino had walked that night had been careful planned and timed to make sure that things had worked out that way._

The next day, in an area that cat and clone had certified Kabuto-free, Sakura was given her Thirteenth Birthday presents. From Sensei came three small scrolls with instruction in the elements of basic Lightning release jutsus. Plus a promise to keep on trying to find a decent tutor for Sakura with that affinity. From the boys came a series of parcels.

One held two-hundred-odd little senbon needles, only about a third as long as normal ones, and with a dimple in the shaft just below the point. The next had two lacquered boxes, with gentle 'C' curves in them, straps to hold them to her thighs, and hinged lids. They were in black, green, and brown camouflage patterns, but they looked more like a tasteful floral paintings than just daubs to break up an outline for concealment purposes. The third parcel had six blocks of lacquered wood, pierced by twenty holes, each with one of the small senbon needles in it. The blocks were shaped and sized to go into the boxes.

"Lovely," Sakura said, a little unsure of what was going on.

Naruto soundlessly ran about fifty meters away, and henged himself to look like a giant four armed ogre. Sasuke henged himself to look like Sakura, and went through of pantomime of suddenly spotting the ogre, panicking, having a thought as the demon slowly approached, and bringing one of the blocks up to her palm, and imitating the sound a bundle of senbon made when Sakura used them for Quick Needle. Ogre-Naruto clasped his chest and fell in abject defeat. Anko applauded; she loved theatrics.

Sasuke reverted to his normal form and explained what was going on.

"Naruto figured that a wrapped bundle of needles would all be a little off of straight ahead when you used them, and start out heading in different directions right from the start. So if the needles were put in a form to hold them exactly straight they'd only do a little spread when they got out a long way. With twenty needles the forms are basically six wide by three high, with two extra, a little higher for jumpers, we figure that you'll have a better chance at long range hits. The needles are shorter because Sensei said that she'd never seen a needle go more than a finger's length into a target anyway, so with your high speed technique that should be enough, and you could carry a lot too."

Naruto, who had come back and dropped his henge, put in, "And Sasuke said that if we put that depression in at the front, it would be great to hold any poisons you wanted to use. Now, you better make this thing work, 'cause we put a lot of money into it; the alternative present would be a fully paid wild night out with Kiba."

"I will train day and night until I am an expert with this wonderful tool! Just not a date with Kiba!"

That was when Sensei broke out a scroll with refreshments, heavy on the dango, and they sat down. She was filled in on last night's adventures of Sasuke (very discreetly told), and Sakura and Naruto (told with wild embellishments and wide arm movements). When she felt they were relaxed and calm Anko gave her team the good and bad news. They had been accepted as participants to the Chunin Exams, but the investigation of Yakushi Kabuto would continue as before. His forcing the girl to become an informant was only playing into ANBU and Security hands. Anko was relieved to see how well the genin took that last bit; under the same circumstance she would have been enraged if one of her friends was caught up as Tamaki was.

_Two days later, at the window that Kabuto had told her to use to show special reports were available or other important news, Tamaki let a sheet with a red stain in the middle hang over the windowsill. It wasn't a pre-arranged sign, but the meaning was easy enough to understand. Kabuto was pleased, as he was always pleased when his will was obeyed. Now all that was needed was a little time, and everything would happen._

The Conspiracy for Justice (at least that was how Naruto liked to think of it) was meeting in his apartment's front room. Pinned up to the wall was the Master Map of Konoha, with all of its erasures and added notes from their tracing of the significant movements of Yakushi Kabuto. There were still a number of areas on the Map that Naruto felt were lacking in proper detail, but that could be filled in later.

"Whoa! Six time Chunin Exam loser? And he kills ANBU? Nineteen and they say he could be a full doctor if he bothered to apply, but he doesn't? How does he not stick out like a sore thumb? Is his Jonin-sensei dumb or something?" Sometimes Naruto reverted to his loud Academy persona when under stress. His three conspirators gave him a pass on this one; they agreed, just at a lower noise level.

Sakura put things into perspective, "A medical-nin can do really horrible things. Think about Tamaki not healing. He must have messed up her normal chakra or something. We have to do this just right; there won't be any second chances. Naruto, how would you get to use 'Chakra Flood' on him? If we could mess him up that way, and if we went in total and non-stop right after that we might be OK.

"Except for Naruto he has us beat on chakra levels, and his control must be at insane levels. He won't need knives; he can make chakra scalpels, it will be like ninja-cat claws, but a lot longer." After a little consideration she went on. "Twenty to thirty centimeter range, at least. He'll know just where to cut for the most damage. And we know he's good with needles and poisons. That's just the stuff we know about him. He'll have lots in reserve."

Tamaki looked over to Naruto; by now she had learned he was the team's main tactician.

"Right," Naruto said forcefully. "We set up the kill-zone on Uchiha land, gives us some alibi if things get loud. He only keeps track of Sasuke; none of the rest of us has a serious stalker. So he knows that I'm the dead last Academy graduate, put on the team for balance. I'll have to make sure he's into that, one or two meetings should be enough. He really has no idea how tough Sakura can be at all. He might suspect Sasuke is holding back some… he's around there often enough that if you ever show too much, he'll see. He's cruel, and Tamaki-san said he seems to have fun with it. That's a weakness, he'll want to twist the knife…"

"So you can do it." Sasuke said.

"Oh yeah. Inferior ninja with superstar on his team hits the sake jug a little, begs random guy for help, catches eye of aspiring young ninja-traitor. No danger there! I'll use Stupid Technique at the lowest I can, and I'll study some drunks for the next couple of days.

"Oh, right. I'll let him know, just a little, that Sasuke here is a lot more of a pervert and a prick than Tamaki-san has let on. It'll get him interested. Does he have a girl-friend Sakura?"

The girl shook her head: "Adopted over-achieving son of the head medico at the hospital, no time for girls; maybe some linen-closet stuff at the hospital. He must look like a prime catch with his reputation and his father's position. So maybe some of that, but I guess he's short of time for a social life. And who am I to speak?" With that the girl laughed; it wasn't as if she had a lot going on in that department herself.

"Ah, Sakura-chan. How can you say that when you hang around every day with the hottest guy in town and the future Hokage? And Sasuke too, of course."

Soon, the hurled pillows from the couch buried him.

_There weren't all that many blonds in Konoha, and one at least was of tangential interest to him. As he passed the genin working under the trees at Training Ground Three Kabuto noticed the smell of a raw and cheap type of spirits. Yes, a half empty bottle of a lower than common quality brand was leaning against one of the trees. The blond went one, two, three, four slow and deliberate steps up the nearest tree before there was a slight explosion and he was propelled two meters of so backwards and nearly onto his head. A civilian child would have been underage, but all ninjas were by definition adults, so when the 13 year old walked over to his bottle and knocked back a slug, he was well within his rights, if not exactly being smart. Now that he was seeing Uzumaki close-up, the boy did look a little more stupid than Kabuto had expected. The younger ninja also looked a bit the worse for wear._

"_You gonna criticize me too? I do better when I'm a little relaxed, anybody would. If brooding-boy can do it, I can. Just need to practice. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, I'm a super ninja and gonna be Hokage!"_

_He took another slug of the rotgut._

"_Wadami doing wrong? Its good, and then it goes bad. What's going wrong?"_

_With that the boy ran at the tree, and went up five steps before the disaster occurred._

_Yakushi Kabuto despised weaklings and losers, but he suffered from certain mental ticks, reinforced by being an unofficial resident physician at the hospital. People were always asking him technical questions, and staring at him expectantly until he answered. It was… socially awkward, so he had gotten into the habit of just giving them a short lesson, or even a pep talk. Without any intention he had developed a reputation of a polite and helpful young man. It bemused him. In this case, however there was an interesting enigma. More booze, more success. Why?_

_At Kabuto's urging Uzumaki took another sip of the potent brew, and charged the tree again. Five steps up, and almost a sixth. Evidently any positive effects of the booze were being counter affected by its more traditional effects. A problem with dosage and counter-indications? A closer look was needed into the situation._

_Eventually a triumphant Kabuto stood over a battered and bruised Naruto._

"_I'm Yakushi Kabuto, and I've been around the block a few times, so to speak. As a fellow Konoha genin I can't just let one of my companions suffer from poor teaching. Just not the Will of Fire, is it?_

"_You have horrible chakra control, and too much chakra. You're nervous when you try jutsus that are control sensitive, so you over-power them. Drinking lets you relax, so you can do better. Until you get looped, and all your coordination goes to pot._

"_So… I prescribe more chakra control training, and just a light drink or two when you want to practice, maybe…wine? Anyway, I'd like to do some more tests on you, after you heal up. Maybe I'll be able to do a complete work-up on you after the Chunin exams. My team's been entered, and I'll probably be busy until the exams are over. Yes, a complete workup."_

"_Th-thanks Kabuto-sempai, I'll follow your directions. If only my damn Sensei wasn't so lazy about really looking at what we're doin I'd have already known what to do. You're good in my books, Sempai!"_

_Two days later Kabuto saw Uzumaki practicing at the same location, doing noticeably better. A warm glow of virtue surged through the older genin. He promised himself that if Uzumaki survived the Exam 'surprise' the boy would be given a very thorough study. With all the chakra the kid had… who knew what could be made out of him? _

Author's Note: Thank you Yog for catching an important error in my first posting of this chapter.


	8. Chapter 7

I do not own, or receive any benefits from the Naruto properties.

A Teacher's Glory: A Union of Rejects: Chapter 7

By Larry Huss

Yakushi Kabuto finally admitted to himself that he was getting jumpy. After so many years and changes of allegiance things were finally going to come to a head, and he would be able to openly proclaim who his master was. For a while at least; then it would be, no doubt, back into some double or triple-cross conspiracy again. First, though, must come his success… the complete turning and seduction of the Uchiha boy. Then the war, and finally his reward; to be Orochimaru's right hand and chief medical consultant. Unlimited research opportunities to grow and transplant a dozen improvements in selected warriors. And when they were proven safe, putting them in himself.

As he sometimes did when restless, Kabuto began to roam the streets of Konoha, passing by different family areas and speculating on them. Did the Inuzukas have a blood-line talent? How did the Aburame endure their parasites tunneling through their bodies? Once he had enough specimens to dissect, especially living ones, Kabuto knew that a thousand rewarding avenues of research would open to him.

But the opportunity to start was going to be over a month away, and as he roved the dark streets now he was looking for some interesting diversions.

_ Uzumaki Naruto gave a slight twitch, and turned to his teammates. "The fish is out on a midnight swim; guess the waiting for the Exams is getting to him. We go for it now. If he takes the lure we have one less thing to worry about in two days. If he doesn't, we can call this laying some more groundwork._

_ "We'll be coming in from the west, if this works. So it'll be worksite B. Make sure it's wired up and ready to go. And it __will__ work. Believe it!"_

_ With that he left the darkened parlor of the Uchiha mansion. Sakura followed soon after with her rolls of strong and darkened wire. She wanted to be up in her camouflaged perch in plenty of time for her night vision to be at its best. _

_Tamaki began to prepare the drugged drinks and hors d'oeuvres in case things went to the Second Alternative. Sasuke grumbled and fretted. If the Second Alternative came into effect he would have to be on premises playing the genial host, so if things went well he would be out of the action. It didn't seem fair; it was his retainer that was being avenged. But if they weren't going to do this right, they might as well not do things at all, and that wasn't how Team Seven worked._

_ Tamaki hoped everything would work right. If the Second Alternative was in effect it meant that Kabuto would show up at the house and have to be distracted. Sakura and she had agreed that their cover story would only work if he thought that she was taking the drug and acted like it. Tamaki had no desire to start doing the act she would have to do to distract the traitor. Nudity with the others, at the baths, was one thing. But the alternative plan wasn't beautiful and warm, it was as creepy and nasty as the man was himself. Tamaki sent a little prayer to Nekogami. She would look favorably on what they were doing, right?_

Kabuto was a little surprised at the number of genin out and wandering the streets so late, or rather so early in the morning. It seemed he wasn't the only one with a bit of a sleeping problem, with the Examination starting in two days. One face wasn't really unexpected; Uzumaki Naruto was out on the town, bottle in hand.

"Hey, Sempai, please join me in a sip. I swear this is the good stuff! See! And I've taken your lesson to heart. Tomorrow and the next day I stay sober as a Hokage. Just joking, I won't be drinking at all!"

After he wiped his lips and took a swig, Kabuto had to admit that the sip he'd had was of a mellow vintage, not raw spirits as expected. It was true that Uzumaki looked as stupid as ever, but the older genin was willing to make allowances for the tension of the situation, and the fact that people's faces didn't always tell their true nature. As their paths seemed to be lying in the same direction they ambled a street or two together, swapping the bottle for another drink on their way. At an intersection where Kabuto began to make his separate way Uzumaki got a conspiratorial look on his low-browed face.

"I owe you Sempai, so… so here's the deal. Gonna be a little party over at Uchiha's place tonight." With that the short blond made a wide, expressive, gesture in the general direction of the Uchiha compound. "And I'm invitin' you, 'cause you actually help other Konoha nins, and you're not a party pooper like Crazy Anko who don't teach nuthin' to me. She's all the time goin' round shopping with Sakura-chan and stuff, when we should be getting super-secret special stuff taught us."

Kabuto was tempted to take Uzumaki up on the offer; an innocent introduction with the object of his interest would be even better than the plan for meeting him at the beginning of the exam.

Uzumaki continued: "But don't tell Sakura-chan nothing about this, it's a guys' only thing tonight."

"That sounds… interesting. Does Uchiha-kun have some geisha's coming over tonight?"

It sounded that Team Seven was severely splintered, even before any offers were given to the Uchiha.

"Nah, no geishas; they're all promise and tease and then giggle and run away and they've tied your sandal straps together. Nah, Uchiha-bastard picked up this maid to cook and stuff because he's too noble to wipe his own butt you know. Anyway, she turns out to be a real nympho, he can't keep up the pace anymore, so I got a special Teammate offer for this night only to," his voice took on a pompous air, "'use the little slut as you will.' The last part should be all in quotes Sempai, 'cause it's how he talks. Anyways, 'cause you're a real 'Will of Fire' sort a guy, how I will is goin' to be to take turns with a real pal."

Kabuto decided the conversation had taken a sordid, but amusing, turn as Uzumaki poked around in brush at the edge of the woods surrounding the Uchiha area.

"Anyways, he's always talkin' like he is something special. 'You mean ten times a night isn't normal?' he asked Sensei Crazy Anko once." At that the boy's voice grew small and plaintive. "An' I ain't sure I got more than six in me. So, come on, it'll be fun. And she's only a civilian anyway."

In general Kabuto preferred a more mature and dignified form of horizontal recreation, knowing any number of nurses and shop girls (and even the occasional grieving widow) impressed by his medical credentials and bedside manner. Having the schedule for which hospital rooms were empty allowed a certain added convenience to his erotic encounters. But it wasn't every day he was getting ready to take the Chunin Examinations for the seventh time, and the idea of showing up this evening, and finally getting a chance to actually talk to the subject of so many hours of observation was interesting. The deciding factor, though, was Tamaki. Having her have to be polite, and pretend the man who so obviously terrified her at every meeting they'd had was a mere guest, would be even more pleasurable than when he finally got his chance to ride the drugged girl. And it would all be part of his cover, too! He couldn't resist that. He followed the other genin onto a narrow path that he was assured was a shortcut to the current Clan Head's residence.

"A little slippery here Sempai, let me give you a hand," said Uzumaki, turning and laying his right hand on Kabuto's shoulder. There was a sudden sharp smell in the air, like the arrival of a storm front but not quite, and suddenly Kabuto felt his left arm and side spasm and send him messages of unbearable heat and pain. He was knocked back a dozen feet onto his back, unable for a moment to even understand that the stupid blond genin had ambushed him, and was running at him with short sword raised in his right hand. Frantically Kabuto performed the one handed sign to call up his  
>Chakra Scalpels on his right hand, and barely had them in place before the blade swung down at his head.<p>

The metal snapped on hitting the hardened manifestation of Life and Will, but Kabuto felt the blades extending from his fingers disappear from the shock of meeting the sword head on. He pulled a quick Kawarimi substitution technique, and managed to get a nearby shrub in his place, intercepting the whirling thrown sword hilt and broken stub-blade. The suddenly berserk genin attacking him backed up a half dozen steps, drawing a kunai, and using his other hand tossing a needle too close for Kabuto's peace of mind. What had gotten into Uzumaki, and what had he done? Kabuto was slowly regaining the feeling on his left side, but it wasn't doing him much good. His shoulder had a dark and seared area as large as a hand burned through his uniform shirt and deep into his muscles.

Still, the little bastard was backing up now; whatever insane impulse had led him to attack hadn't made him crazy enough to think he could beat his clear superior once the initial treachery failed. Kabuto drew a kunai (he knew he had to conserve his chakra until he had a chance to use it to heal himself) and pursued Uzumaki. His longer legs got him to the younger boy quickly, though his low line gut-cutter slash was blocked, and Kabuto had to leap up to avoid a leg sweep. He had seen Uzumaki spar a dozen times on his spy mission, when did the blond get so fast? Flipping his otherwise useless left arm in Uzumaki's face, Kabuto was able to get in a stab through the boy's left cheek, the blade grinding against his teeth.

Uzumaki backed up again, to the left, and Kabuto followed making quick feint stabs with the knife. Once he was in range Kabuto stopped advancing, flipped the kunai into the ground at his feet, and drew and threw three poisoned senbon at Uzumaki. Somehow the clumsy genin managed to block one and avoid another; only one managed to graze the assassin. That should be enough, Kabuto thought, when he felt two burning spots of pain start low on his left side, then heard a sound like a fistful of firecrackers going off all at once. He leaped back, his hand clawing at the medical kit at his waist. Only amateurs relied on unpoisoned needles when things were serious, and now Kabuto knew now that there were at least two people after him.

_ There! Sasuke had heard the sound of Sakura's Quick Needle. It meant that the initial ambush hadn't gone off well, and things had gotten nasty. Well, Second Alternative was down the toilet now. _

_ "Tamaki, hide and take the cats with you. I'm going out for a stroll."_

_ Grabbing his favorite woodland ramble tools, Uchiha Sasuke ran to the sounds of fighting._

Throwing two wide-spectrum anti-venom pills into his mouth and hoping for the best, Kabuto felt the muscles of his left leg begin to burn, and start to tremble. Until whatever hell-brew that was on the needles that had hit him was counteracted he didn't dare to try to add a third dimensional element to his evasions or attacks. Suddenly he felt a weight drop onto his head, and searing pain as his ears, cheeks, and jaw were shredded, and then the five kilos of cat leaped off him and disappeared into the night and shrubs. He automatically threw his hands up to cover his bleeding ears, at least the right one responded. His ability to use chakra to heal himself would have him operating at a useful level in a few minutes, if he could only get the time!

Uzumaki was limping toward him, throwing a kunai and drawing another. Why wasn't the little monster dead? Why was this happening?

Kabuto felt the burning in his leg subside. His anti-venom, and his long-term project on building up as many toxin immunities as he could, had saved him. Despite the pain from the two needles still imbedded in his thigh, he leaped toward a limb five meters up. He fell four meters short. For some reason his legs weren't working at their chakra enhanced level at all. He tried making another set of chakra claws to use as climbing irons; nothing happened. Somehow his entire chakra system was messed up, the set of claws he had been able to make at the start of the battle were evidently the mere remnants of what should have been in his body. He'd have to get some elevation the hard way. After all, Uzumaki couldn't work the trees worth a damn. Once up high Kabuto would hunt down whoever was helping the genin, and then finish him off. If Uzumaki wasn't dead due to the poison by then, it was going to be a pleasure to slowly take him apart.

Reaching a tree limb, leaning against the trunk and panting, Kabuto looked down on Uzumaki. The vicious blond was actually moving better than a moment earlier, and looked up, smiling. Kabuto felt a sharp pain in his right hand, heard again the sound of firecrackers, and from the corner of his eye saw Uzumaki jumping down toward him from another tree, kunai in hand. Desperately, Kabuto leaped, hitting the ground awkwardly he sprawled face down. His hand exploded in pain. There was a spear impaling it, and pinning him to the earth. Before he could think of some desperate way to escape, he felt the cold tip of a kunai at the base of his skull.

"No one hurts us, or ours."

Then, the blade was driven up into his brain.

_Sakura leapt from her perch in the prepared hunting platform in the tree and walked over to where their quarry was having his head removed by Sasuke. She was glad he had showed up so quickly. Kabuto should have been dead… at least four times over by her count. The not-a-genin was somebody to make absolutely sure about, and decapitation seemed to be a decent start for that project._

_ "Sakura-san, Sasuke-san. I screwed up. I underestimated him; my plan was inadequate. I apologize abjectly. Please forgive me."_

_ There was Naruto, kneeling on the ground, bowing deeply. It just wasn't right that their impolite teammate should be doing that._

_ "Get up, idiot. No plan survives contact with the enemy, remember? So get up before I start to call you 'Dead Last' again." Sasuke was far from disappointed how the evening had turned out. Sakura went over to Naruto and began to put a compression bandage on his wounded face._

_ They heard a slow and rhythmic clapping and Sensei walked into the little trampled clearing. A cat jumped up into her arms and began to lick its blood covered paws. Sakura gave a screech._

_ "__Bad cat__! You don't know how much poison was in his blood when you clawed him. We wash your paws at least three times, with soap, before you can dare lick them!"_

_ The ninja-cat looked abashed and apologized profusely for its mistake._

_ Anko looked at her genin. She had thought to visit each of them tonight to see if they were feeling nervous, so close to the big day. When Sakura's parents had told her that their daughter was over at Sasuke's place (they had, over the months, gotten very blasé about their daughter visiting the ill-rumored Uchiha compound) Anko had decided to head over and give them a pep talk. She had decided to come in the back way so she would have a chance to scout things out, so she wouldn't interrupt anything __important__. Instead, she had heard the Quick Needle, and the yowling of cats in mortal combat._

_ "So, you three were doing some team bonding exercises and went mushroom gathering in the dark? And somebody suddenly attacked you? That somebody being unknown, and you fought him off and he escaped? And then I ran off and complained to ANBU, but tell the real story to the Hokage: that Kabuto must have finally got his orders to eliminate the last Uchiha from Konoha's list of ninja, and you successfully defended yourselves? Have I made any mistakes, here?"_

_ Naruto breathed deeply twice. "Anko-sensei, I love you." The others, cat included, nodded sincerely. Then the genin went back to their project of dismantling Yakushi Kabuto. Just in case._

_ After the Jonin was on her way to spread lies and safety, the genin gathered up Kabuto's parts and brought them to a secluded nook in one of the backyards of the Uchiha district. There they all practiced the Gravedigger Jutsu. Sasuke, being the most experienced and adept, got to plant the torso in its separate hole. Naruto took care of the separated arms and legs, and Sakura the head. If they had been certain that the parts might not be wanted later they would have already cremated the remains. As it was, they knew where Kabuto was hiding now; he could be given a final disposal whenever it was convenient._

Anko was surprised how well the Hokage took the news. She had no illusion that he completely believed her story; he had seen too many mission reports that were anywhere from half to completely false for him to have fallen for that. But he had accepted Kabuto's termination with considerable serenity. In his best grandfatherly voice he explained that ANBU hadn't been getting much new from their work on Kabuto lately anyway, and with all the foreign genin teams and their Jonin-senseis coming soon to town he was just as glad to be able to re-assign the newly-freed ANBU to increase general security levels. Also, that he had been beginning to wonder if Team Seven had any real spirit and initiative after all, or if their intensive training had broken them too thoroughly.

"How good was he, Anko-san?"

"Well sir, he taken potentially fatal chakra burns, had at least three poisoned needles in him… and Sakura doesn't make bad poisons. He had most of his face shredded, and he had a spear blade tearing open his hand. Until they pinned him down they were still barely staying ahead of him. They weren't happy until the separated his head from his neck, and I wouldn't have been either, in their place. He was at least a Special Jonin."

"Ah, well at least now we'll be able to really get to get to work on unsealing those secret messages of his that we didn't dare to work on before. His teammates, now that they can no longer compete… broken team and all… will have entirely too much time during the exams for mischief. Hmm, Anko…?"

"Perhaps it would be better if I just kept my eye on them, sir? If you think that we could gain any advantage from keeping the situation ambiguous for a while, perhaps?"

"Yes, a good idea. At least until the second part of the exam is over. Then, unless there is some overriding reason, we can eliminate the problem. You can go now Anko, and make sure your team gets some rest; genin always get so restless the day before the Examination. Oh, and make sure that that anything Yakushi had on him, down to his sandals, is collected and brought to me for examination. Of course, mum's the word!"

The Jonin-sensei left the Hokage's office after a polite bow. How wrongly people estimated the girl, the Hokage mused. When there was no one around to put on a show for, she was such a polite child. In a way her loyalty and dedication was at least a small easement to his pain at poor Orochimaru's fall. That and Minato's death were the two most terrible loses Sarutobi had ever suffered, even worse than his elder son's death. At least then he had still had Asuma. Always a worry and a bother, but sound at heart, and sometimes surprisingly cunning in his work for the Leaf.

_ Naruto was currently in a spare bedroom of the Uchiha Clan Head Mansion, wearing next to the least possible, and having two attractive girls running back and forth giving him antidotes and putting medicated hot compresses on the scratch on his right leg. When she discovered that Naruto had been grazed by one of Kabuto's needles, and that he was noticing a bit of a pins and needles feeling at the spot, Sakura had gone into overdrive and had the boy prone, stripped, and dosed before he could begin to protest. _

_Sasuke looked at some of the used compresses. Whatever Sakura had put on them seemed to have drawn something more than just blood out of their teammate. To be honest though, Naruto was complaining a lot more on how the antidotes he was being fed were affecting his stomach than anything about how his leg felt. In fact, Sasuke was certain that except for the stab in his face, the most damage Naruto would have received this evening would probably end up being the result of frequently pressing his nails (hard!) into his palms in order to not lose a certain degree of… control of essential bodily reactions. A wise move, Sasuke decided. If anything… awkward… happened it wasn't certain if Sakura would start beating him up right then, or just hold it over him for the rest of his life. Tamaki, of course, would just take it as a wonderful sign that the boy was recovering well. Two girls, much the same age. Both… interesting. Each so different._

_ Naruto and Sakura had both agreed that it had been a close thing until Sasuke had gotten there to pin the traitor to the ground. He agreed that he had made a damn fine entrance. He hadn't been in on a lot of the fight, but he certainly had put in an essential blow. He wasn't unhappy about that at all. _

_ As he saw Sakura scurrying around there was a thought kept repeating itself in his brain. He used to think she was useless, a drag on his advancing. He used to think Naruto was an idiot, a burden to carry until he could dump them both. It was Anko-sensei who taught him the Konoha trademark teamwork was a way of multiplying strength. That the Will of Fire mattered, it bound them together. Well, realizing he had been a stupid kid back then was actually better than some of the other things he had been pondering the last few weeks._

_ Tomorrow, if Sakura allowed, Naruto wanted to get into the shopping district and get himself a new kodachi, one of better quality than the cheap one he had picked up for free down in Wave. Not a bad idea, really. It would be a good idea for each of them to see if they could upgrade their blades._

_ Ninja-cat Hiroshi was explaining what had gone right and wrong in the fight to the other ninja-cats and the almost-there ones that could understand enough words. Sasuke decided to listen in, and see if he could offer any helpful ideas for the training program that seemed to be developing. Before he did, he went over to Naruto and put a blanket on enough of him to give an enhanced degree of modesty, and discretion. "Thanks," Naruto whispered to him. "Anytime," Sasuke replied._

Sakura knew exactly what Naruto was doing, and approved of his efforts. That didn't stop her or Tamaki from 'carelessly' brushing up against him, or being a little off target as they changed the compresses drawing the poison out of his leg wound. It was just a little humorous revenge for… well, actually it was just humorous to see him try to control his natural reaction to being so close to two hot girls.

The idea about upgrading their short swords was a good one. When she had seen Naruto's break on Kabuto's chakra blades, her heart had gone into her mouth. It was a good thing that Naruto had kept his head and led the traitor into the killing ground they had studied and prepared. Her Quick Needles had been kept in a tight pattern by the boys' gift, just sweeping in front of her teammate without hitting him. Working out the exact amount of spread for the needles from that distance and at that height had been funny though. Mathematics had always been her friend at the Academy, and Naruto's bitterest enemy. Here, in a night battle in the middle of a forest it still gave her the margin of victory. No, the victory had really been all of theirs.

A smooth, warm form slid against her shin. It was Yoko-cat. She was waiting her turn for a little medical attention. Just bred the other day she was anxious to know if everything was going well, and if she had caught. Sakura wondered if Tamaki would ever tell Sasuke that Yoko had delayed the whole breeding program for almost a week by an obsessive determination that it be Sasuke who would be the one to mate with her. It had taken both the girls endless hours to convince her that it wasn't possible, and that ninja-cat Hiroshi would have to do the honors. Still, she was now just another eager expectant mother, wondering how her children would turn out.

Sakura knew she would have to seriously start studying medical techniques. It made such a natural pairing with her love of brewing poisons.

_Yamanaka Ino looked up as the little bell above the front door of the shop rang, and a small, hysterical, brown-haired boy ran in and dodged behind the store's counter. "Don't tell them I'm here!" the boy said in a loud whisper._

"_Who?" Ino asked. She could almost place a name with the flushed face trying to hide behind the glass fronted counter, with the shelves filled with various special baskets and decorations for various floral displays and presents. Ko…Kono…Konohamaru! Yes, he had been able to dodge his tutor a few times and shown up at their training sessions. Sensei's nephew, and he'd used to go on all the time saying he'd end up as Hokage. Naruto's idiocy was evidently being passed onto the next generation. At least Naruto seemed to have grown out of it. "Who?" she asked again, as the boy started to look around for a possible rear exit._

"_Foreigners, evil foreigners. They grab little kids who are doing nothing wrong and it was an accident anyway, and they threaten them with awful stuff, and the catty one with makeup on, he was carrying a dead body on his back. I saw the eyes and everything!"_

'_Well,' Ino thought, 'this sounds interesting.' She went to the large front windows to check if there was anything worth seeing. Hmmm. There were three peoples' backs receding down the street, and as one of them was wearing a weird suit and a hood with little cat's ears on them and was carrying a mummy-wrapped burden, they might be Konohamaru's child-threateners. According to Sensei the kid actually was a bit of a brat, and since he didn't seem too beat-up Ino was inclined not to bother chasing after anyone. The kid had probably only gotten a fright, and deserved it. In any case, she __had__ been told to watch the flower shop this morning. Chasing down strangers and leaving the shop to the tender mercies of a seven or eight year old didn't seem like the act of a responsible young genin who had been given direct orders by her Clan Head (and father). As she had never seen the weird suit around town, or the way the blond girl next to him wore her hair in four spikes, it was likely that the brat had just had a run-in with some of the out-of-town candidates for the Chunin Examinations. She'd see them tomorrow, at the first test; time enough then to give an apology for whatever offense Konohamaru hadn't done, and was an accident anyways._

_A more pleasant sight was coming her way, in any case. Team Seven was headed in her direction, carrying some bundles and talking among themselves. Ino knew who they were, though no one in the group had the faces of Sasuke, Sakura, or Naruto. It was the way they moved; the flickering of their eyes to check for surprises coming their way, and the subtle little hand signals they were giving each other. She turned back in time to stop Konohamaru from hauling a huge vase with dried flowers off of a high shelf (and probably breaking it), ignoring his orders ("as your future Hokage") to let him have it so he could butter up his grandmother and get her to forgive him for some sort of tragedy involving flour, eggs, her favorite mixing bowl, and mothballs._

_Team Seven actually entered the __**Yamanaka Florist**__ as Ino was carefully explaining to Konohamaru (while suspending him by his collar a foot off the ground) that as a ninja and Clan Heir she didn't have to put up with this kind of grief from anyone, especially someone not yet the Hokage._

_After she had carried the child out the door, and told him to figure out another way to ease his grandma's wrath, she greeted her new customers. "Hello, Team Anko; and who are we buying something for today?" She enjoyed their startled looks, followed by the dropping their disguises. Oddly enough, Naruto had a bandage on his face. Whatever injury he had had must have been pretty bad; she knew how quickly he healed._

"_How'd you know?" Sakura asked, while the boys tried to pretend that they weren't overwhelmed by so much blooming foliage._

"_Body language, Forehead. Anyone who knows you can spot the way you move, check things out, that kind of stuff."_

_Team Seven turned to each other, some unspoken message was passed; they nodded simultaneously, and went back to whatever they had been doing before. Ino thought it seriously odd, but didn't have time to ponder the possibilities of ESP or advanced jutsus, as what Sakura had been doing before the little silent conference had been getting ready for an insult trade. Before she could get properly started Sasuke broke in._

"_We're looking for something for expectant mothers. Something with a lot of blue in it."_

_Oh no! Sasuke-kun had been seduced, and the gold-digger up at his house had gotten her claws into him! She automatically put on her commercial smile to cover her shock, and went to a cabinet and took out an arrangement. The boys made appreciative noises, while Sakura put a puzzled frown on her face. "No, won't do," she said._

_Ino's professional pride was stung; she had made the arrangement herself. _

"_And why not, if I may enquire?" Her father's mantra kept going through her mind: 'Don't insult the customers, don't insult the customers.' Maybe just this one time, it was only Sakura after all?_

"_Nepeta," Sakura said. The boys and Ino looked at her quizzically. "Catnip," she replied._

_When the boys gave thoughtful nods, Ino had to ask if the recipient didn't like the smell or something._

"_Yoko, Ai, and Megumi would love it; that's the problem," Sasuke explained._

_Gods and Demons, Sasuke had knocked up __three__ girls, and hadn't even tried to kiss her on their date! What had she done wrong? What was wrong with her?_

_Naruto finally had mercy on his fellow blond. "Tamaki just found out some of her cats were going to have kittens, so we thought we'd, you know, do something nice for them. But if women shouldn't have alcohol and stuff, I guess Sakura thinks cats shouldn't have catnip when they're in a family way."_

_Ah, cats. Tamaki-chan's cats. Sasuke's purity was still safe. Good._

_From there on the conversation in __**Yamanaka's**__ took on a more natural (for ninja) tone, and the shoppers showed their fellow the assorted instruments of sharp, pointy death they had purchased earlier in the day. Ino's mouth was watering. Daddy wasn't letting her touch her newly-bulging bank account to upgrade her equipment, it just wasn't fair! And Team Seven was flush with all sorts of neat Tags: Exploding, Smoke, Flame, and Flash! Ino had been trying to nag Asuma-sensei into teaching one of her team how to make them. Sometimes (i.e. now) she envied Team Seven on having Anko as their sensei; they never had to worry about running out of the ability to blow things up with Naruto providing them with his creations._

_As she left Sakura turned, and made a promise to Ino._

"_All kidding aside, in the Exams I'll do my level best to avoid poisoning any Konoha ninja. Even you, Ino-pig."_

_It was an oddly reassuring comment._

An undisguised Team Seven looked at the clot of genin teams, foreign and domestic, cluttering up the hallway and staircase of the Konoha Ninja Academy. They had thought of going disguised as each other just for the hell of it, but on second thought they realized that if they had to sign anything at the Test Site they might not be able to forge each other's calligraphy well enough to pass muster. No sense in breezing through the Exam, and getting in trouble for a little technical malfeasance.

Sakura shook her head. Sasuke called up his Sharingan. Naruto counted on his fingers. They looked at each other (a habit they found hard to break) and Naruto offered a back way into the building that would avoid the traffic jam. He had found it useful often enough in sneaking into school a bit late, or leaving a trifle early, back when he had been a student there. Neither Sakura, nor Sasuke, had been that sort of kid then. Now, evading the line was the most obvious thing in the world for the formerly obedient students. Ninja discipline was mostly internal; it was results that counted.

So up a wall (the actual back doors had alarms on them) and onto the roof, followed by picking the lock on the access stairs, and right down to the third floor gymnasium their instructions had told them was where the first part of the test would be given. There were only a few other teams in the hall outside, gossiping in low tones. A few moments after they arrived Team Kurenai showed up, evidently having followed them up the back way.

_Kurenai-sensei didn't have the Byakugan, of course. But she was a master of genjutsu, and that had oddly enough made her a very useful teacher for Hyuga Hinata. Genjutsu was, after all, the art of making the mind believe a false image or scene. You had to know what were the essential points the subject/victim's mind was looking for to anchor their perception. It was an insanely fast interplay between the mind of the user perceiving what the subject was looking for, and providing it with a contrived sensory image. So finding the essential point, datum, quickly was the key. Which included ignoring the less significant details that would distract and delay the imposition of the definitive illusion._

_One of the greatest difficulties of the Byakugan was that in even for a modestly talented user (and Hinata considered herself as such) there was so much you saw while using the family gift. Most of those able to awaken their talent had limited enough ability and skill that they only really saw the most intense charka within a radius of a dozen meters or so. The powerhouses and prodigies like Father and Cousin Neji had the ability to see, and filter out, the obscuring things of both high and low chakra for a hundred meters or more. Hinata had been stuck with a lot more perception than she had filtering capacity. It was Sensei who, using her own genjutsu training techniques, had been able to train Hinata in setting up mental sieves that allowed her to prioritize what she was able to see; first with regular vision, then the Byakugan. _

_With her raw Byakugan skills her classmate Uzumaki Naruto was as blinding as the noon sun. Learning how to control her response to him had been one of the things she had spent her time learning when she was politely pretending to be paying attention to the third-rate lectures on the womanly arts that made up the Academy's Kunoichi courses. But it was only with Sensei's training that she had become able to prepare herself to actually see Naruto's 361 chakra-heavy tenketsu points, and train her unaided eyes to spot him in a crowd, or off in the distance._

_So today, as her team tried to push their way through the blocked up throng trying to get into the Examination Room on the Third Floor she had seen with her unaided eyes a glimpse of yellow, then next to it the distinctive pink of Sakura-san from school. Hinata's stalking (she didn't try to hide that from herself) let her know that that combination would be Team Anko, here for the test. As Sakura-san was one of the __Uchiha's__ stalkers Hinata had no trouble thinking friendly thoughts about her. _

_When Team Anko quickly abandoned going in by the front hallway, and left, Hinata had switched to her family's blessing and curse, and saw them go around to the back of the building. Then up a wall, all of them walking horizontally as if it was a flat piece of ground. From the roof to the floor above where the current body blockage was, to a room with a small number of chakra signatures, but all of them at a high average level. It was then that she realized, even from her team's position near the back of the applicant crowd, what was going on. Shino's attention had been easy to get, the increasingly angry Kiba required both of them, but from then on it was merely a short walk (around, up and then down two flights of stairs) to the real Examination Room, where Team Anko was taking their ease talking to Team Asuma over by the windows._

_Cousin Neji's team came up the stairs, Cousin Neji and his female teammate holding onto a grumbling and reluctant Rock Lee. After they were out of earshot of the stairwell Tamura Tenten told Lee to knock it off, and the green-clad boy suddenly relaxed and sauntered with the others into the huge room. _

_Slowly other teams trickled in from various paths, including the exterior windows of the room itself. Some Konoha Chunin were also milling around, mostly near a row of chairs against one of the walls. Naruto took all this in, conversed a little with his teammates, and left the room for a moment. Hinata with her Byakugan active watched him amble, not so casual as to be suspicious, to a vacant office and once on the inside, multiply. She had seen him do this any number of times, and still had no idea exactly what was happening, but it was exciting. Today though the reason for this reproduction escaped her. He wasn't going to be using them errands around town while the exam went on, was he?_

_Finally the last bell rang, with a goodly number of teams still down on the mislabeled floor below. The undeceived genin in the real examination room drew their seating assignments from a bucket. There was absolutely nothing left to chance when Hyuga Hinata activated her blood-line talent and picked the chit for a seat next to Uzumaki Naruto._

The opening intimidation from Morino Ibiki added up, when you looked at it realistically, as an invitation to cheat on the test. Still, Naruto took a decent shot at answering the questions on the test without using anyone else's work. Looking at his answer sheet fifteen minutes later he thought he had a good chance at having three of the problems answered correctly enough for credit. Considering that he wouldn't have managed even one when he graduated the Academy, he felt a measure of pride. As he was pretty sure that Sasuke would be able to do seven or eight, and Sakura-chan eight or nine right answers, he was feeling secure about the team having a passing average. Except the missing tenth question… that indicated that a massive joker was going to pop up and moon the entire bunch of dutiful little ninja test nerds. Of course, there was no way he could face himself in the morning if he passed this completely honestly.

In any case, Chunin Exam Monitor 3 (in Naruto's personal labeling) was escorting a weak bladdered genin to the rest rooms, which meant that in a minute or so Clone-appearing-to-be-Chunin-Exam-Monitor-3 would be coming into the room, inspecting a few of the most likely knowledgeable test takers, and then quickly leaving the room and dispelling itself. As that would immediately pass the memories of everything it had seen to Naruto, he really wouldn't have any choice about having someone else's test results at his fingertips. As he waited for that to happen he looked around the room, and wondered how the others were involved in gathering vital answers.

Well, Hyuga Hinata was sitting right next to him, and looking down at the worktable they shared. She had a bloodline talent, didn't she? So she probably was either smart enough to do the questions herself, or had done one of those funky eye things Hyuga did to get the information. Why she was staring at the table and blushing was a bit unclear. He flashed her a brief, friendly smile that she caught out of the corner of her eye. At her slight head movement he could see that he had been correct; she was doing that Byakugan thing. She tried to shove her face-up answer sheet to him, but he gave a whispered "no" in response. It wasn't any challenge to do things that way, and if there were any errors on her sheet it would be too easy to chart the path of information flow. And it was at that moment that Clone-appearing-to-be-Chunin-Exam-Monitor-3 dispersed, and Naruto had to make a minor correction in one of his answers, and add two more to his sheet.

While he waited for the results of the now-active reconnaissance of Clone-appearing-to-be-Chunin-Exam-Monitor-1 to come to him, he went back to speculations. Ino would just check out peoples' brains, Shikamaru might be bright enough to just do the test straight (less effort that way), or else he'd figure out some weird mind game. Choji was pretty much a straight stand up guy; he'd have to probably sweat it through by himself. Kiba had the puppy that everyone thought was only a dog. Were the Monitors (all Konoha ninja) ignoring the fact that the pup was up on top of Kiba's head, and could see any papers within at least 10 meters? And also that Kiba was Inuzuka Kiba, of the can-talk-to-dogs Inuzuka? Of course they were! Like at all totally fair and unbiased ninja competitions, the Home Field Advantage for this test would be a killer.

Only a few of the genin hopefuls were weeded out by the Monitors catching them cheating too often or too blatantly. It was only after the last minute allowed for answering the nine questions on the test sheet had expired that Naruto got a chance to look at a true work of art. Morino-sensei, without any knowledge of how to do Convincing Jutsu at all, was able to rattle all the survivors' cages with a truly awesome display of intimidation about how any one genin answering the last question wrong would flunk their entire team (unless they just chickened out and walked out for this exam), and condemn the whole team to eternal genin status. For a second even Naruto was confused; then Sensei's advice to look at the whole picture (like he would have to do when he was Hokage) came back to him, and his common sense took over.

Not only would the kids of the Suna Kage be at risk, but four teams from Konoha's smaller client villages were still in the room. There was no way the Old Man would let Morino risk permanently insulting so many politically important connections. This was evidently some enormous mind-screwing, and Naruto was feeling honored to be allowed to see it unfold. He noticed the Hyuga girl look briefly over her shoulder to her teammate, Kiba. Not the most academically orientated of ninjas at the best of times, and almost certain to do something impulsive when under pressure. Naruto saw her usually faintly tentative expression change; she was going to ask to leave the test, and save her teammates from being permanently kept in the lower ranks due to some blunder on Kiba's part. Taking the blame for keeping them from a chance of promotion for at least six months was kind of noble, even though Naruto was certain it was unnecessary.

After all, though Kiba's family was being effectively run by his mother, it was officially him who was the heir of the Clan. The Aburame Clan's heir was also on the team, and Hyuga Hinata was her Clan's heir, unless the rumors Anko-sensei had commented on were actually understatements of the politicking in the Hyuga compound. So, there was no way Question 10 was going to be allowed to do so much damage to the pride of some of the most important clans in the village. As her hand began to rise Naruto grabbed it, and when her face turned to him he gave a little headshake 'no.'

She started blushing pretty heavily then, and he wondered if he was going to catch a slap across the chops (which would really hurt his still-healing wound) for having touched one of Konoha's aristocrats. But she evidently forgave him (or was storing up her anger for a later occasion) enough not to make a scene.

_Naruto held her hand, for just a moment of skin to skin contact, and shook his head to stop her from pulling her team out of this deceitful Exam. The next Exam would be outside of Morino's control and cruel restrictions, safer for direct thinking types like Kiba. From Father's occasional talks (in tone more like lectures from a general to a particularly stupid recruit on how to walk in step than a father speaking to his child) she knew Morino was head of the Torture team for the village, and liked his job and its cruelty entirely too much._

_She wanted to protect her teammates, but Naruto had held her hand and motioned not to do it. He certainly didn't have a reputation for being the most thoughtful of ninjas, but he was her ideal and obsession. Perhaps he was right about this; she hoped so. If not… Kiba and Shino would never talk to her again, Kurenai-sensei would abandon her, and Father would just give her that look again that said everything about how she wasn't… and would never be… of any value. She looked down at the table again, and activated her Byakugan. _

_Her vision pierced through the thick dead wood, through anything that wasn't touched by chakra to at least some extent. She saw Naruto's glorious chakra nodes, the flowing power that connected them, the packet of explosive tags that must be in the thigh pocket of his jumpsuit (probably enough to level the building, she thought), and the silver lines of the central seal that rode above this navel. And there, in the background, she saw the dull red-black of the foreign chakra that flowed into his seal, and was washed clean there. To her he was like a wire figure of a person, with his tenketsu points brighter connecting junctions for the wires. The living layer of his skin was just visible, if she squinted, as a grey sheath for all his vital energies._

_As team after team had one or another of its members decide to avoid the final challenge of the first Test, she bit her lips and steeled herself to hold firm. When the final falterers left, and the twenty teams that were willing to dare all sat ready… Morino revealed that the final problem had been to find out who could stand the pressure of a crucial decision, and who wasn't ready yet to handle the stress of being a Chunin. Naruto, her Naruto, had guided her again into staying through the fear. The smile of victory he flashed in her direction when the final explanation of what the whole test had been about was given vindicated her trust. His answers might not always be academically correct (she was no fool about some of his shortcomings), but they had never led her wrong in what really mattered._


	9. Chapter 8

I do not own, or receive any benefits from the Naruto properties.

A Teacher's Glory: A Union of Rejects: Chapter 8

By Larry Huss

A Konoha Jonin named Miumra Hamaki led the surviving applicants from the Academy building in a long double file. They went through the streets and markets squares of Konoha toward where he had informed them they would be having a survival training exercise as their Second Test. As they straggled along, a few of the genin broke out of line for some minutes to do some quick purchases. At Shikamaru's oddly incessant urging Team Asuma quickly cleared a shelf of a convenience store of its stock of dried soups and fruit, as well as two six packs of bottled water before rushing to catch up with the tail of the column. Other genin, from less chakra blessed regions, looked around at the strange sight of a small city that was also partially a park, as they finally left the walls of Konoha and came to the site of the next stage of their test, Training Area 44.

Yamanaka Ino was too keyed up to be overly worried at having to sign a release form absolving Konoha from any responsibility in the event of her death or injury. After all, as a ninja such things were not only part of the job, but really what she planned on doing to the others in the Test. Anyway, she was not only the cutest kunoichi in the test, but also had powerful family techniques that even the acknowledged master of the skills (her father) admitted she was precocious in her ability in using. Shikamaru was undoubtedly the smartest kid in the Test, and Choji was probably one of the strongest. So they had special talents, brains, and a great Meat Tank; how could they not kick ass?

The teams were separated to go to their individual gates into the Training Area, where they would hunt each other to secure the opposite scroll from the one they had been given (either Heaven or Earth). They would have to turn in a set at a central tower in five days to get a passing mark. Ino looked over and saw Team Seven looking at the dank forest inside the wire fence. They had a definite slack-jawed and stunned look on their faces. It was a little odd to think that that bunch was intimidated, but the evidence was written on their faces. Ino just hoped that Sasuke-kun wouldn't have one of his teammates die on him, which would mean that he wouldn't have a full team at the end; that was another of the short list of requirements for passing the Test. Secretly, Ino admitted to herself that she would really miss Sakura if the worst happened; she had no fears that Sasuke himself would get into any real trouble.

_"I can absolutely not believe it," Naruto whispered to his teammates. "Do you think Sensei knew about this when she got us the job of thinning out the wildlife?"_

_ "No," said Sakura firmly. "If she had known she'd have leaked the info to us within the last few weeks… somehow. With all the 'plausible deniability' she could figure out."_

_ Sasuke was standing there, trying not to lose his poker face at this turn of events. It was true that they weren't really equipped for an expedition into the Forest of Death, but none of the other teams seemed to be either. They, of course, only carried their walking-around set of cutlery, and a canteen and four or so ration bars. Plus enough explosives to level a few buildings, but that went without saying. Still, even without the Quick Needle equipment and polearms they had a home court advantage not only over the foreign teams, but over the Konoha ones also. He had been worried about Team Guy, older and more experience, giving them a lot of trouble. But they were, he knew, a Taijutsu-heavy team, with decent mid-range missile support. The way Sakura went on how about how good Tamura Tenten was had naturally led him to do a little investigation in that direction. Bad footing and a mass of underbrush would be problems for Team Guy's styles. _

_But even more important was the fact that the Forest was not only full of things that wanted to eat you, it was full of things to eat. Some not even poisonous! How many of the genin going in would carry even a small supply of food and water when going to a test; half, perhaps? The rest would probably be down with some stomach bug from bad water and be suffering from severe hunger by the second or third day. His team knew enough about the place now to set up a vacation camp in the best spots inside the fence. This Second Test probably wasn't going to be a romp, but he had high hopes for it._

_ As the gate was unlocked to let them in Naruto caught his eye, made an odd undulating wavy motion with the fingers of his left hand. Sasuke and Sakura nodded, and all three went at their best speed into the forest, to the higher and drier regions. Once there they moved toward their usual rallying place and water-guarded clearing. They arrived near the pool of black water within twenty minutes. They had already heard some loud cries of anguish ringing through the forest; evidently the Exam was getting off to a fast start. Before they would investigate they were going to put together a plan, the chances that the noises were bait… well they had caught striped weasels with a similar plan, and didn't want the embarrassment of falling for that that sort of scheme themselves._

_ Naruto was just about to create their security screen of disguised Shadow Clones when they had a rude interruption. A tall, androgynous looking Shinobi had either just arrived (or escaped their attention completely) or had been there all the while (and escaped their attention completely). Both situations were disturbing, and an indictment of how much they were failing Sensei's simple instructions to "know where you're going, and what's waiting for you there." The third alternative, that they were totally outclassed, came to their minds when a wave of paralyzing Killing Intent shoved itself into their minds at a level far beyond anything that Sensei had managed to project, even at her most fearsome._

_ It was Naruto who snapped out of the freezing terror first. It took him a second to identify the head protector, and then he said:_

_ "So, you come from Kusagakure; how do you like our kiddy park so far?"_

The stranger was a little taken aback. According to the reports he (she or it might at this time have been equally acceptable designations) had read Anko-chan had been a mediocre sensei to the genin; there was no way they should have been able to move or speak in the face of the terror they should be feeling. Ah, wait; yes, it was the demon-carrier, that must explain it. The Nine-Tails living inside for so long must have given even that stupid little boy so much experience with fear that a certain degree of immunity was built up.

Then the other two started moving into flanking positions slightly behind the blond. They could move, and even get into defensive formations while under this much mental pressure? Interesting. Perhaps Yakushi-kun had been slacking off a little in his investigations?

Still, the stranger hadn't come here to check up on how his old student had developed as a teacher; there was business to do. One Uchiha had escaped him in the past; this fledgling wasn't going to be allowed the opportunity to do the same. Though he hated to do this with so little style, it was time to mark first and gloat later. Suddenly his neck began to elongate as fast as a kunai could be thrown, with his face distorting as his mouth opened to three times human normal in gape. Finger-length fangs deployed, preparing to inject the Cursed Seal of Heaven (a chakra seal in liquid form) into the target Uchiha.

Except, instead of the nice soft neck of a pretty boy, the fangs closed down on and through rough cloth and into a wiry muscled arm as Uzumaki Naruto managed to block the strike of the weird snake-monster-guy from poisoning his teammate by shoving his own flesh into the way of the strike. For the monster-person the next thing to happen was strictly automatic; it wouldn't have happened if he could stop his own reflexes. When the pressure indicated that the fangs were well set, the toxic seal was injected. And six hours of meticulous preparation and careful infusion of ordered chakra were wasted in the wrong genin. Suddenly the false ninja from Grass felt two things: his mouth was burning and the top of his head was suddenly smashed down so hard that he couldn't extract his teeth from the wrong target he had hit.

Between the scorching pain in his mouth, and the unexpected labor of pulling the fangs out of the boy's tough flesh, the attacker didn't have either the perception or the time to notice two other things. One was that Uchiha Sasuke moving to bring down a kick onto the still extended neck; the other was Haruno Sakura racing toward him with murder in her eyes.

_If she had been thinking clearer her kodachi might have been drawn and in her hand. Or perhaps not… it would have cost her at least a half-step to do that, and she was in a hurry. As long as this __thing__ had its neck extended, and Sasuke was doing his best to snap it, there was a whole body with no sensory data coming in to let it know it was under attack. Or no sensory data until she put her best hit in at least._

_ At three meters from target Sakura left the ground and began to cock her leg and gather her chakra. Landing a half-pace behind the monster and to its left, she pivoted her body as she swept her leg around. She used her chakra to anchor her left leg firmly into the ground and put her full force into her kick. Her body burned with a power she had never felt before, and time seemed to slow as her leg moved with unnatural speed. The thing tried to move itself out of the way, but it was far too slow. Perhaps it was Sasuke's hammer kick smashing its head down into the ground, pulling the fangs out of Naruto's left arm distracting it, but in any case she had never done a strike so pure and smooth and fast and on target before. _

_ F=MA: thirty-eight kilos of girl doesn't really produce all that much force, unless she is anchored firmly into the ground and her attacking leg is moving at an insane speed as it impacts the small of the back of a creature that left orthodox humanity a long while ago. Sasuke saw the Kusagakure-marked ninja's body leave the ground and sail through the air. Even with his Sharingan active he could barely see Sakura's strike as anything more than a solid image of speed. He would have started to smile as the sound of the impact reached him, except that Naruto had dropped to his knees and was starting to scream. Naruto, who took the hardest hits Sensei could land on him without a whimper, was screaming with pain and holding his left arm with his right hand. Sasuke whispered "sorry" as he turned. Drawing his short sword, he tried to keep up with the flying body of the monster that had attacked them. _

_ It was contracting its neck as it followed its low-arcing aerial path, until by the time it landed it could have almost passed for an actual human being again. As it landed into the middle of the pool of water Team Seven had used as part of their flank guard it proved it was no genin; one of those would never have been able to land upright after being smacked that hard. It was certainly not a Chunin, even landing on his feet; one would have been driven underwater by the speed he had landed. Instead it landed feet first, and hardly even skidded, its supply and control of its chakra was so complete. Sasuke stopped at the edge of the land; he didn't want to have to fight that thing by himself, and especially not when he would be distracted with making sure he wasn't sinking at the same time. Especially not in __that__ pond._

_ Shooting a wide cloud of fire out of his mouth over the water, Sasuke doubled back to where Sakura was rubbing her hip and standing over Naruto. "I'm fine, just a bit sore," she said, and Sasuke felt a knot in his chest that he hadn't realized was there ease. _

_ "Do you think Little Suzu is home today?" Sasuke asked, looking back at the figure standing easily in the middle of the pond, out on top of the water, and snapping its dislocated spine back into alignment._

_ Sakura gave her sore leg another rub, and nodded. She pulled out a knife and slit open the sleeve over Naruto's bitten arm. Opening her waist pack she pulled out some cord, and tied a quick tourniquet above the wound, above where the line a huge blackened bruise had appeared, and was visibly throbbing._

_ "It's that time of the year, after all. Let's just grab Naruto and get out of here."_

_ Sasuke saw the water behind the enemy… ninja… creature, begin to mound up. He grabbed his teammate, slung him in an across the back carry position, and headed out. Unburdened, Sakura took the lead position and worked her way to about twenty meters in front, her job to scout their way to the next best place to stop and put together a strategy to deal with the aftermath of this disaster of a battle._

Orochimaru the Sannin was fully occupied in re-evaluating his plans as he popped his dislocated jaw back into place, while he managed to get his spine properly aligned again. Knowing how diffuse the cloud of flame from the Uchiha should at this distance he had hardly even tried to dodge it, and was rewarded with having his eyebrows set on fire. Or at least the eyebrows of the skin he was wearing. That shouldn't have happened, not with such a basic technique. This whole Team Seven wasn't what had been reported to him. He spat singed blood out of his borrowed body's mouth. What did the Carrier have in its veins instead of blood?

At least there was an eight out of ten chance it would die, now that the Cursed Seal of Heaven was infecting it. Or else it would become (in time) his little muzzled and collared pet. Still, Yakushi Kabuto would have a lot to answer for, when they next had a little conference.

How did that little girl hit him so hard? It had almost felt like one of Tsunade's love-taps. He had tried to block the kick (a Sannin didn't need his eyes to tell when an attack was coming), but she had been so damn fast. Right now Orochimaru felt more like an arthritic 70 year old than the spry super-ninja of fifty (in a twenty-five year-old's body) that he really was. If Anko hadn't been a traitor, coward, and total failure, Orochimaru would have been very proud how well she had been teaching her students. It was almost a shame that he would now have to kill at least one of the team, probably was already killing another, and would be abducting the third for later use.

Orochimaru felt something dangerous moving toward him; no doubt one of the Carrier's Shadow Clones. Not a real problem, just smack it and it would go 'poof.' Without looking he swung his incredibly flexible arm backwards, to run into something solid, muscular, and wet. He turned and looked at two and half meters of thigh-thick tentacle. While he was taking that all in, two other tentacles reached up from underneath him and grabbed his legs, pulling him down. As his head was submerged his thought was a simple one: "I thought the Giant Fresh Water Squid was a myth!"

_As they moved along the slightly drier paths along the forest floor (Naruto might have managed carrying one of them, leaping from tree to tree, but although Sasuke had grown a lot stronger in the last six months he was still just barely a teen, and his family's talents had always been in the ways of speed and skills, not raw physical strength). They were careful not to use any chakra in travelling; that sort of thing could be traced, after all. Despite that, they still went faster than almost anyone else could have gone; this had been their hunting ground, and it had become their familiar playground. _

_ A few more minutes and they were at a large raised hummock, surrounded by a 300 degree sweep of outright marsh. Sasuke laid the moaning Naruto down, his head resting against one of the oddly evenly-sized rectangular blocks that poked up through the soil of the mound. The blond's eyes were dilated, and he wasn't responding to their questions on how he was. Sakura took a kunai and held it up in front of Sasuke's face. He gauged how much would be needed to do the job, and reveal the least, and spat out a short burst of flame to sterilize the blade. Sakura stroked the sharp edge over the bloated and discolored section of the arm, and began to squeeze out a mixture of blood, serum, and something else. __That__ seemed to be colored the darkest shade of grey, and she could swear was sending up little pseudopods moving this way and that, before diving back down again in the flesh. She quickly cut off the sleeve of her silk blouse (sky blue with a pattern of peony blossoms, she had wanted to look her best at the start of the Chunin Exams) and began to use it to blot up the fluids she was getting from the cuts. _

_ "Who… what was he?" Sasuke asked to both of them. "He was even less of a genin than Yakushi was. Physical extensions, not that rare when you think of it. But who ever heard of a bloodline talent, or jutsu like that neck thing, including poison?"_

_ Sakura kept kneading Naruto's arm; there was less of his fluids in the exuded stuff now, and more of the dark grey toxin. Her sleeve was becoming soaked, so she threw it away and cut off the other one for use. There was no way she was going to take a chance of having that stuff, whatever it was, get in contact with her skin._

_ Naruto's eyes came back into focus for a second, and he mumbled, "Thanks. It helps I think, Sakura-cha…" And then he was out again._

_ Sasuke was listening with his fullest attention, and scanning the area with his Sharingan activated. He let his eyes revert back to normal; nothing either dangerous or useful (like venomous-skinned frogs or poison-fanged spiders) seemed to be in the area at the moment. _

_ "Naruto was in the lead. Why was that attack on me? Fast as he was, it had to have exposed him more than taking out the point man. I wonder if the teams with Hyugas on them are being targeted; getting rid of the Konoha advanced bloodlines before their newest trained members get too strong? Do you think this guy was part of Yakushi's little group?" Hmm. Sakura with a knife in her hand, it always made him think…_

_ "You make keeping Naruto alive look so graceful, like a tea ceremony or something. I've always admired that about you, when you're not trying so hard you get so… nice looking, I mean."_

_ In a dry tone Sakura acknowledged the most romantic speech Sasuke had ever made to her. "I adore your unbridled passion for me, Sasuke-kun, but until we find a nice love-hotel with good rates around here could you get me some more cloth or something to blot up the poison. I'm running out of sleeves. I want to save the medicated bandages from our med-kits for when I try binding things up here."_

_ Sasuke smiled briefly. He'd lately been coming around to the feeling that real girls (not the parodies of females that had pursued him back at the Academy) could be pleasantly interesting. Of course that could have its drawbacks also. Living with Tamaki had started to become a little complicated as they became more familiar with each other. He tore the sleeves off of his black, long-sleeved, shirt. _

_ Coming to a decision, Sasuke took charge. "Screw the Exam. We head to the central tower as fast as we can and get Naruto medical help. If we can pick up another scroll, fine. If not, these exams aren't a once in a life-time thing, anyway. _

_ "We keep going the same way as before, you're lead and scout, I carry the load. You do __not__ risk that little butt of yours doing anything foolish. Our mission now is medical evacuation."_

_ Sakura nodded. She gingerly poured a little water from Naruto's canteen into his mouth, and he managed to swallow it down without waking up. In another few minutes she wasn't able to get any more useful fluids out of the wounds, and tied the large medicated bandage from her field first aid kit over the cuts she had made. Releasing the tourniquet she stood up and gave a nod, and after orientating herself toward the center of the forest, where the only building was (which Sensei had told them was a convention center), she headed out. By the time she was thirty meters ahead Sasuke had picked up his teammate in a fireman's carry, and followed her._

Naruto was standing in front of the great barred cage that held the Fox. The paper seal holding the door closed was in perfect condition, but the ground beneath his feet was giving little jumps from time to time, and dust would spurt out of the joints and seams of the whole underground structure and filled the air with acid taste. Several stuffed chairs and a table were scattered around inside. The Fox itself was curled up in a ball under the table (Naruto had been true to his word about upgrading the prison) with several scrolls and a pen and ink bottle on it. It was looking much smaller than usual, and its coat was far less vivid than the amount of dust in the air could justify. It was scared, Naruto realized. Perhaps he should be also?

Sensei had said that everyone gets scared sometimes, the trick was not to let it make you choose the wrong decisions. There didn't seem anything going on here but a mongrel hiding, so he tried to wake up. And found he couldn't.

Instead he was in a different corridor, seemingly metal lined and tubular, watching a dark bubbling mass advancing down toward him. Just in front of the surface of darkness the walls of the corridor looked like they were corroding just before they were engulfed.

"This can't be good," he mumbled to himself.

Suddenly the wall of darkness advanced a half dozen steps, and then receded twice as far. Twenty heartbeats later that happened again. The area revealed by this pulsing was deeply pitted and damaged. Naruto once again tried to become conscious; his friends were having a fight up in the land of the waking.

He groggily opened his eyes to see Sakura-chan pushing down on his wounded arm, and using something to blot up whatever was there. It felt like she was applying hot irons to him, but if Sakura-chan was doing it, it must be for his own good.

"Thanks. It helps I think, Sakura-cha…" he managed to get out before he tumbled back to his own inner place.

He was back at the metal corridor, watching the damaged sections slowly change color and become a dark grey and start oozing something that looked like the stuff that had been advancing earlier. Naruto didn't have to be a genius to understand that whatever this part of him was, it had been changed enough to start producing the poison that snake-man had injected into him, and Sakura had been trying to get it out.

He didn't allow himself to think that it was sort of silly when he went through the hand seals Sasuke had shown him as the release for sending a fireball. He put far more chakra into his technique this time than he had ever dared to before, and a larger and thicker fireball came out of his mouth and down the corridor in his mind. It scraped along the floor, turning it cherry-red, and for a moment the mutation of his mindscape stopped. Then, from all around the cleared area little fingers of corruption started extending themselves, until the purified places began to show the signs of pollution again.

He had long ago realized that part of the reason he healed so fast was because he was using his (and maybe sometimes the Fox's) chakra to fix himself up. Now though, now it didn't seem like what he normally did was enough. It was time to get serious, and if he couldn't muster enough fire-power, he knew where he could find it.

In what seemed two steps he was back in front of the cage. Nothing there seemed to have changed all that much. Same seal, same table and chairs, same Fox hiding under the table. Just looking a lot paler, almost grey.

'This is all in my mind' Naruto reminded himself, and slipped between the wide-set bars and into the den of the greatest and most calamitous of the Chakra Demons.

Despite its thousand previous promises to rip him to pieces if he ever got within range the Fox didn't come out and attack. It just whined and cowered into a tighter ball. Naruto had to admit the floor was… pulsing ominously was the best word for it. Evidently the Fox had at least a little more reason than Naruto had thought for being cowed, after all their chakra systems were connected so… an attack on Naruto's was an attack on all that the Fox was. And that was the key to unlock this problem, wasn't it?

Naruto reached under the table and grabbed the Fox by the ruff of the neck. When it tried to snap at him he cuffed it across the snout. Sensei always said that the best way to start an arrangement was to make sure everyone knew who was in charge.

"Listen up, I'm going to need a lot a chakra from you, so don't give me any back-talk or hassle about it. And don't try any silly tricks, 'cause if we end up fighting each other, we both go down. Maybe you won't die, but ya may not be as on top of the heap when you get yourself back together again. "

The Fox whimpered back a reply: "It's eating you, and then it'll eat me. And then it'll put a collar and leash on me and make me do horrible tricks, and…"

"Give me the power, and I'll save us."

"You! You're just a human, and a young one at that! You know nothing about real power!"

Naruto lifted it up till its snout was level with his eyes (yet it was supposed to be tall as the hills) and stared at it until it looked away.

"The chakra, through there, "and Naruto pointed to a new feature in the cell, a horizontal feeding slot in the bars, "and don't hold back anything I want. Because I will win, if we do this together. And if you play things Foxy-cute your hide will be keeping someone's hands warm in the winter."

With that he walked back out between the bars, which somehow were still too narrow for even the diminished Fox to slip through. A thin stream of pale red chakra came through the slot, connecting to Naruto-in-his-own-mind. He looked back into the cage, "More!" And the thread of power became thicker and deeper colored. The Fox inside found it had to get out from under the table it had crawled under again. What it saw was Naruto walking away, crimson flames outlining him. Perhaps things weren't as bad as all that, it thought.

_Sasuke saw Sakura suddenly stop up in front, and he came to a halt as quietly as he could. Checking for any fire ant nests or the like he put Naruto down, forcing a henge disguise on him of a plant flowering out of season. If something happened in whatever confrontation was coming up, at least if Sakura was the survivor she'd be able to tell that the shrub was just a cover-up._

_Sasuke crept closer, managing to get into hearing range in time for the tail end of Sakura's truthful lie._

"… _so after this weird guy attacked I took off and haven't looked back much since. It slows you up too much. If he comes your way, better just run for it, because he's out of our league. Well… maybe you could handle him, but my team couldn't. _

"_Look, guys, I don't even have a scroll on me; another member of our team had it. If I did I might try to bargain with it to get an escort out of this place, it is definitely dangerous in its own right. So, not having any bargaining leverage I'm just going to peacefully back out of here peacefully and not disturb you in your scroll hunting."_

_As she started to back off a deeper voice started to speak. Sasuke wiggled forward and off to the right, trying to get a better view of the situation._

"_Haruno… yeah, I know about you, we'll let you go if you give us the Uchiha. We've got a little mission related to him, and trying to trace him in this bog is damn near impossible. Don't try to sell that 'I just ran away' shit with us; we know you're his fangirl and wouldn't leave him in the lurch. Be reasonable about leading us to him and you'll live. You can always find another pretty face to be an idiot about, if you're still alive."_

_By now Sasuke had managed to circle around and forward enough to see that Sakura was facing three genin, with about ten meters separating them. Two guys and a girl, with the headbands indicating they belonged to that new "Village Hidden in the Sound" that was so mysterious in its origins and location. She was trying to slowly back off when one of the boys, the one with his head all bandaged up, lifted his metal-covered right arm and swung it rapidly in her direction. Sasuke heard a high-pitched ringing, while Sakura (directly in the path of the arm's movement) fell to her knees with her hands over her ears. Then her arms went to her waist as if to grab at a rebellious bellyache._

_Sasuke activated his Sharingan, and began to creep forward again. He had kicked Sakura often enough in the gut to know what was going on, she and her "delicate and ladylike stomach."_

"_Gods and demons, they're weak around here," said the other boy as he went to tie Sakura up with a coil of rope he pulled out of his waist-pack. Standard practice for a good torture session if you didn't have something set up beforehand._

_As he reached down to flip the retching girl over for a proper binding, she suddenly shot her hand out and rolled to the left. The boy managed to avoid being impaled on the needle she had pulled out of her everyday-walking-around kit, but it was stuck in the short, loose sleeves of his shirt. He lifted his arms stiffly in front of him and a pattern of small explosions began trailing Sakura as she moved. _

_The girl on the team threw two senbon at the rolling Sakura, one with a bell attached, and one without. Both missed. Sasuke saw that there was a wire attached to the belled needle. Suddenly the Oto kunoichi stopped throwing things and yelled out: "Zaku, your shirt, it's on-" just in time to for the exploding tag Sakura had put on his sleeve under cover of a needle attack went off._

_As soon as he had seen Sakura successfully attach the explosive tag Sasuke made a clone, and gave it its movement directions. It ran out straight toward the nearest enemy (the other boy), and with a shout made a spectacular high–leaping attack. Just when he thought the motion would have created the greatest amount of diversion, Sasuke pulled his kodachi from its sheath, and bolted out of the underbrush, as low and fast as he could go. _

_The clone was dispersed by whatever jutsu was associated with the perforated metal guard on the boy's arm, but before the Oto ninja could get anything in train to use against Sasuke he had to use the arm strictly as a sort of inferior parrying tool. He winced as he saw the Suna-steel blade cut some of the holes in the guard into connected slots. He didn't realize that Sasuke was circling around him so that the only unengaged member of his team was now blocked by his body. When everything was in position, Sasuke finished it._

_Slipping a kunai into his left hand, he took a dramatic high slash down at the enemy's head with the kodachi. As one hand went to try to grab Sasuke's arm, and the metal clad one tried to intercept the blade, the Otogakure ninja didn't even realized he was going to die until the shorter blade was already in his abdomen, just above the waist, and traveling upwards. As the knees became weak and gave way Sasuke was already moving so that he was to the rear of the girl Oto ninja._

_She looked around desperately; her team leader was down and Zaku was staggering around and still shooting off his airwaves attacks off all over the place. One arm seemed to be hanging on by a thread, and then a kunai from the pink-haired bitch took him in the chest. Now it was just her against both of the Konoha genin, and they had already proven that they were each deadlier than her team's heavy hitters. "I surrender!"_

_Well, it might not do much good, but her situation was so poor now…_

"_Lie down, face down you idiot. Spread your legs, hands behind your head. Sakura, full search and disarm procedure."_

_Out of a certain sense of delicacy Sasuke let Sakura do the bladed removal of all the Oto ninja's possible hiding places. He felt a little sick when he saw her crying in anticipation of her rape, a normal prelude to a kunoichi's interrogation in some places. Even though Sensei had worked with Torture and Interrogation she had never briefed them to do things like that, and both Naruto and Sasuke had been fine with things that way. The poor girl in front of them was so thin and undeveloped it would have been so many levels of levels of perversity that he couldn't even figure it out. Just being tied up and humiliated in her nudity (and with her hair cropped off to prevent things being hidden there) would be more than enough to get her to talk. While he waited for Sakura to finish he went to the other two ninja lying on the ground and cut their throats, then scavenged the various tools and rations they carried off their bodies. Wasting good stuff like that would have been a sin._

_Along with the more normal loot Sasuke found a scroll, suitable to complete the set Team Seven needed, as well as a note in the waist-pouch of the metal armed boy, that had short descriptions of each of the members of Team Seven, with an indication that Sasuke was the target. _

"_What did I ever __do__ to these people?" Sasuke thought as Sakura called him over for the interrogation. They would have to do this quick, and for that two was a better set-up. He saw as he got there that Sakura had gotten the girl into a sitting position and had already started the torture part of the process. As she got into position she pulled out a senbon that was a centimeter or so in deep in the girl's… torso. Sasuke wondered how girls could do things like that to each other. "I guess I'm the good guy on this one," he thought._

_It only took about five minutes to get everything she knew that was important to them; in fact get it at least twice. _

"_This Kusa nin came up, bold as sin, and gave his authorization to Dosu…" She was careful not look in the direction of the disemboweled genin. "He brought us here real fast and said we were to be back-up if some Konoha punks managed to get around him. When he left and Dosu told us what your team looked like…shouldn't there be another one of you? Anyway, we were told to kill the Uchiha, oh Gods that's you…"_

"_You and your very dead friends are…?" Sasuke inquired, with the most polite, bored voice and a socially bland smile._

_The girl tried desperately to keep her legs together, lest she give him ideas. Sasuke was glad Sakura was there; even if he had wanted to look (of course not, never even once!) he wouldn't want to get her angry at him for being perverted._

"_Kinuta Dosu, and Abumi Zaku. I'm just Tsuchi Kin. So we were supposed to take the head, your head, and put it in a storage seal and bring it back with us whether we went onto the next stage of the exams or not._

"_How did you do Dosu and Zaku so easy? You didn't do anything special!"_

"_What did… Dosu you said his name was, do to me?" Sakura asked._

"_We're the Village Hidden in the Sound. High pitched sounds amplified by his chakra, messes up your balance and you get dizzy-sick. And Zaku… he had this thing done to his hands so he could shoot out these blasts of air that explode and break things. I'm just to make up the number, they didn't make any changes in me, didn't think I had enough chakra to power any of the built-in tools. Or even be strong to enough to have a chance of surviving the Bite."_

"_The Bite?" Sakura moved a regular senbon needle around vaguely in the air. The other girl winced and tried to cover her exposed chest with her still-tied hands. She tried to distract the sadist-girl by continuing on with her confession._

"_Lord Orochimaru, he'll bite you in this special way… and if you don't die you get this weird strength, but you go kind of crazy until it leaves you and you're never really the same afterwards. Some of us wanted it, to show we loved him and wanted to be his special ones. I was always scared… most people die from it…_

"_Not that it matter, I guess. We failed at everything. I'll… I'll probably just be used as a target dummy or something when I go home. It's the truth! That's what happens to failures, things like that. To blood the next graduating class, you know, make them used to killing._

"_They even want to graduate a couple of classes faster than usual; something important is coming up and they want a lot of soldiers, even if they aren't fully trained or their surgeries are fully healed. So they'll need a few more failures as targets."_

_The Konoha ninja didn't have enough time to do a more thorough interrogation right now. They had got the basics and now wanted to rush Naruto to safety as fast as possible. They couldn't afford to take the girl with them, she'd slow them up too much, and the neatest way of dealing with her was very difficult for them to do in cold blood. _

_With a sigh Sasuke dulled a kunai and left it stuck in the ground. Next to it he put some field rations and a canteen. He told the girl she could scavenge clothing from her dead teammates, and then he sighed again and pulled off a set of things from the bodies so she wouldn't have to touch her teammate's corpses. He told her she should be quick about getting her bindings cut, because there were a lot of things locally that would be coming to eat all the non-moving food around here very soon, especially with the scent of blood in the air. She should be able to get free in time; Sakura had gone for maximum humiliation, with minimum damage and crippling. He was still glad he hadn't had to do it; he owed her one._

_He led his teammate back to where Naruto was stored, and when he got there lifted the disguise from the boy. He heard a sound behind him; it was Sakura puking into some bushes. Well, if __he__ had had to be the one doing the "bad cop" part of the interrogation it might have been him losing lunch right now. He went over to her and rubbed her back, telling her that he was glad she had been so strong. He didn't quite know where that had come from, but it felt right._

_While she rinsed her mouth with water and spat it out he went back to Naruto, then called out to his more medically-read teammate: "Sakura, are those bandages you put on Naruto supposed to make his arm smoke?"_

"I am the fire that burns out the rot," he thought. "I am the flame that cures the wound."

He walked up the pathways of himself, sending searing clones up the various byways as they split and branched. Before him was the bubbling foam of poison, behind him the red-glowing, scourged and new-tempered tunnel. Each cul-de-sac was scorched clean. Behind him he left pale and ghost-like beings that went and looked, or stayed and waited, to ensure that the cleansing was complete and no seed of future corruption would remain. He knew that much would be lost, but anything lost would inevitably be regained if he persevered. And endurance was his core.

It was slow, fighting something crafted from such strength by so much skill. But each resisted step forward was the slightest bit easier, a hint of victory to come. Uzumaki Naruto didn't stop for weariness, refused to admit fatigue.

Deep in the coils of the seal on his stomach the Fox whimpered now from feeding the boy's demands. Not a great deal of its power, really. But the Fox knew that it could no longer limit what was being taken, Uzumaki Naruto was the one completely in control.

_Sasuke was sprinting now. Sakura was leading the way again, but now radiating so much rage that nothing desired to stay in their path. It was only four kilometers to the tower; five perhaps along the crooked pathways they had to take, but now they weren't being cautious and ran straight and unsinking over the streamlets and marshes and bogs in their path. They only diverted around trees and the patches of barbed briars that were in their fastest, straightest path._

_Three kilometers back Orochimaru the Sannin felt the great anger as he dripped on the grass next to the black pond, and gave it dirty looks. He wondered who could have that much rage. He'd have been boiling the pool of water in front of him away completely, except he knew that it might be fed by underground as well as the visible sources of water, and the damned impossible squid would just escape anyways. And using __that__ much chakra would noticeably weaken him. Anyway, the longer he stayed here using high levels of power the more likely that Konoha ANBU would get on his case. He had too many things to do and people to see to get involved in a prolonged running fight right now. _

_Suddenly he smiled; they had suckered him beautifully. Out-classed a hundred to one they had managed to escape with only a third of them dead. He finally had to admit it; screwing over little Anko had been premature and just bad tradecraft, if she could prepare a bunch like this. Besides his freaks it would have been a useful thing to have a properly developed set of tools like these. With an almost weary step he began his retreat. He wondered if the team he had given the assassination orders to would find the Konoha genin. Now he regretted that little bit of over-planning, if they succeeded so much would be wasted. He wasn't even exactly sure anymore why he had given that order. It was really counterproductive if he wanted the Sharingan eyes; they might be damaged in any battle. Odd… very odd, now that he thought about it._

Sakura saw the tower straight ahead down the path, and cut to the left to avoid any traps or ambush that might have been set up on the obvious approach. Sasuke followed in her steps; what she had gone over was as cleared as anything they were likely to find without stopping and wasting time. They didn't realize that their familiarity with the forest, and good fortune in finding a matching scroll so early, had brought them to the finishing point before most of the teams had gone more than two or three kilometers into the forest. Those from the drier and more open elemental lands were most completely discomforted.

The team from Sand, for example, was currently waist deep in muddy water, not completely sure how they had ended up there. One of them was having a complete and total tantrum, while the other two were edging away as fast as their restricted movement would let them. By the time they would finally get out they would all be barefoot, and would suffer from sore feet until they collected a set of dead mens' sandals.

Sakura looked up as she entered the tower's main chamber, and saw a set of typically vague pair of maxims on a plaque fastened to the wall. Those were evidently all the instructions they were going to receive on how to finish the current task. As she mentally worked them over into an actually useable form Sasuke came in, and carefully laid Naruto down, sitting him up against a wall. He didn't speak to Sakura; why distract the brains (if not necessarily the will) of the outfit when she had some heavy thinking to do. Instead he concentrated on his personal dilemma.

There had been two groups after him. The Kusagakure monster had been working with the Oto group from the start. Whether this was a strictly Oto thing or not, someone was going after him in particular. Was Kusagakure village in on this too or just the monster? But put that to the side for now; it didn't really matter how many teams had him as a target, as long as he knew that he was one. Except he couldn't stop wondering: why him? He still wondered if the two teams with Hyuga on them had been getting special attention.

Alright, accept that. Kill the last Uchiha… the last legitimate one anyway… and Konoha loses a powerful bloodline forever. An act of war, then, done in peace. Normal ninja preparations for a strike, it just it seemed a little… out of the blue. Relations with Grass were pretty calm last Sasuke had heard. And Sound was supposed to be trying to gain respectability and get accepted into the major villages' network. Maybe they thought that pulling off a coup would help their prestige; but they should have figured out that Konoha was a lot bigger, and wouldn't accept that sort of insulting act passively. Unless something big was coming very soon and this was their ticket into the event. "This is way beyond my pay grade," he finally decided, and turned to see Sakura flip the scrolls they had brought out of the forest open at the same time.

With a puff of smoke Umino Iruka appeared.

"Congratulations, genin! You have passed… what the hell happened to Naruto-kun?"

Sasuke looked over to his teammate, the smoke had stopped coming through the bandages on the bitten arm, and Sakura had scuttled over to Naruto, giving a head toss to Sasuke that could only mean "deal with things, while I check up on our blockhead."

"Well, send for a medical team immediately, probably one for dealing with really bad poison. I'll tell you later… no. There is so weird guy with a Kusa headband that can elongate his neck and has a venomous bite. He's way above genin, and I think even Chunin. He and a bunch of Oto ninja attacked us, just to get at me. And yes, I know that sounds like egotism, but I really don't want all that kind of attention. Look at this note. No, get the medical team here first!"

With that Sasuke pushed the note he had been going to hand Iruka-sensei back into his pocket, and went into his best "I'm not going to talk to you anymore until you do what I say" sulking pose.

The teacher/Exam official disappeared in a small burst of dust. Satisfied that things were being handled properly Sasuke went over to where Sakura had finished unwrapping the injured arm. The skin, from slightly above where the two bite marks were visible, down to the fingertips, was black and crumbly, falling away like flakey ash. Sakura reached her hand back over her shoulder and Sasuke had his canteen off of his belt into her hand without a conscious thought. She unscrewed the cap and slowly dribbled the water out over the charred limb.

"I've checked his temperature; just a little elevated. No unusual splotching in his mouth or on his tongue, can't really tell about blood pressure… interesting. See, there's a layer of pink skin under the ash; the arm itself has lost so much thickness the skin must be barely covering the bone. The skin itself is- I'm so sorry, sorry… please forgive…" When she had stroked the new skin layer it had not only been incredibly smooth, it had been so thin that it had torn under her gentle touch, and now there was blood welling out from under the crumpled surface.

Sasuke saw her do what he had expected her to do in an emergency. While still mumbling "sorry, sorry," under her breath she had yanked a tube of antiseptic burn cream from the medical kit, ripped off the seal covering the top, and gently began applying a thin ribbon of ointment over the bleeding area.

As she finished a team of medi-nins showed up with a stretcher, being led by Iruka. They gently put Naruto onto it and set off, evidently a decent medical facility had been set up at the finish line for this part of the Exam, and they would be getting their first customer while they were still alert and full of energy. For a few seconds, as the team left, Sakura just knelt there, her eyes blinking. Then she shot to her feet and rushed up to the medics and began to give them a rundown of what she had seen, and how the injury had occurred.

Iruka stood in front of Sasuke, palm out. The genin retrieved the note and passed it over to his former teacher.

"'Intercept Team Seven of Konoha. Three members: pink haired kunoichi Haruno Sakura-timid and talentless. Blond haired, wears orange jump suit Uzumaki Naruto-stupid and clumsy but has endurance and can do Shadow Clones. Uchiha Sasuke- dark haired, and wears Uchiha fan emblem on clothing. Kill the Uchiha and take his head back in storage. Leave no witnesses. Obey orders of bearer. Orochimaru, his seal.'" At that last name Iruka gave a small shudder.

"Orochimaru, sensei? Why is that name familiar?"

"He was one of the three Sannin, the Hokage's perfect team of genin when he was a Jonin-sensei. But one of them went bad; Orochimaru. He's been a missing-nin for years; not like Tsunade-hime or Jiraiya-sama, who are just on prolonged leave."

Sasuke digested that for a moment, then ruminated out loud: "Tsuchi Kin, the Oto kunoichi we captured, said that Orochimaru would bite people, and they would either get very strong, but out of control, or more usually die. The Kusa ninja who attacked us at the start bit Naruto and he was taken out instantly. I wonder… " But before could complete that thought he was grabbed, and even if he had had time to activate his Sharingan he would have seen nothing but the world as a blur as Iruka went off with him at maximum speed to the office in the tower devoted to Security Services.

_Sakura stayed in a corner of the room near Naruto's head. She listened to the medical technicians, and saw them gently clean off the rest of the injured arm, as well as take off the rest of his clothing, and cleaning his body. One of the nurses made a rude comment on seeing him that way. Sakura kept quiet, but bristled inside, even though it had actually been sort of complimentary if you were very vulgar. But why did the woman call him "Demon?" Naruto was a bit too sweet, if anything. Maybe he had pranked her back when he was still a kid. That must be it._

_The part of his arm that had been charred looked all shiny and pink, and as matchstick thin as a man starved for months until his body had eaten away all the fat and muscle, leaving only the skin tight-covering the bare bones beneath. They talked in low tones about how he might not ever be able to use the arm again._

_That wouldn't stop Naruto, she knew. He would just keep on as a one-armed ninja, and never give up his dreams, because that was him. He'd be killed, of course. He never knew when to back down, so he'd do something stupid and die. She started to get mad at him for that. He didn't have any right to make them all so sad, dying like that. Sensei would never forgive him for that, and would take out her bad temper on everybody else. It would be __all his fault__. _

_She finally fell asleep in that corner. The medical staff had noticed her, of course. But teammates sometimes did things like that; they were ninjas themselves and understood. They just put a blanket on her, and were quiet on their regular checkup on the boy. _

An ANBU search team found Tsuchi Kin wandering, still bare-skinned, later that day. She had refused to cover herself with dead men's things; everybody should know that was bad luck, she'd said. And she had figured that any more bad luck that day would probably kill her. The search party treated her very delicately. She hadn't been able to cut herself free until the early arrivers had already started to feast on her teammates. Even though the team hadn't really been all that close, well… it was bound to be disturbing. She was declared DOA to the Jonin who had brought her team to the Exams. He never asked to see the bodies, or tried to bring them back to the Village Hidden in the Sound. It didn't seem to be a very sentimental place. Morino Ibiki and Yamanaka Inoichi performed her secret de-briefing personally. Much about mysterious Otogakure became clear during it.


	10. Chapter 9

I do not own, or receive any benefits, from Naruto,

A Teacher's Glory: A Union of Rejects: Chapter 9

By Larry Huss

Sasuke thought about things for the next three days, until Naruto woke up. It was pretty obvious that they had fought off an ambush by an S-ranked criminal, and then taken out another group of genin, despite being outnumbered. That felt good.

Naruto lying in the medical wing of the tower, while the doctors debated over whether or not to take his arm off; that didn't feel so good. Especially as the injury was because he had jumped in to save Sasuke's ass. If that bite had hit its target… well, without Naruto's often-seen insane level of hardiness it was likely that Sasuke would be (as the saying delicately put it), among the majority.

Sasuke thought about what he wanted out of life. At just 13 he already had his basic career path mapped out: kill Itachi, have children, and reestablish his clan as the most honored one in Konoha. There seemed to be some contradictions in his simple plans, though. Or at least in the methods for achieving them.

Teamwork had certainly kept him from dying more than once, but a really good team had people who were like Naruto and Sakura. People who would go to limit for their friends. People he would go to the limit for. But… while they made him strong, they made him weak. Right now he felt the worst he had since he had seen his parents' corpses, and endured Itachi's torture genjutsu. That couldn't be right for an avenger, an arrow of righteousness aimed at the person who had destroyed his life. He was caring about other things, other people, and not just his own mission and obsession. Were avengers made of stuff like that?

But… if all he was, or allowed himself to become, was that arrow… he was realistic enough to realize he would probably suck pretty badly at the other things he wanted to do in life. And if that arrow missed for some reason, there would be no one else to help him line up the next shot. No one who mattered, anyway.

He had to have his revenge, his justice. He had also started to realize that there were other things that were equally important; other people that were at least as important to him as he was. It was probably now time; time to find out if his team could really join him in the first goal of his life. If they did, he realized it probably would become a lot more likely to be achieved, and he would more likely survive. And at least, if they didn't, he was sure they would take care of the cats and Tamaki. They would certainly do that, at the least. Now all he had to do was find the courage to stop his endless debating about who to trust, and actually trust someone.

He thought those things as he walked down to the main entrance hall to see if any other teams had made it in since he had last checked. Team Asuma had come in the previous night, and Team Guy right after. The Suna Kids (what everyone had started to call them behind their backs after it had been revealed that they were all the Kazekage's children) had made it in that morning, covered in mud, insect bites, and radiating more Killing Intent than participants in a death duel. Team Kurenai was in the room right now, with Aburame Shino working out the proper procedure for unrolling the scrolls. Inuzuka Kiba was leaning against the wall, supporting Hyuga Hinata, who seemed in a walking daze. So far five teams had managed to survive, and of those four were from Konoha. Maybe the teachers at Academy were doing something right, after all.

It was time for his afternoon visit to see if Naruto had woken up. Sakura had been spending a lot more time than that up in the white-painted room, but there was only so much he could stand to look at the still form on the bed; Naruto not being Naruto the perpetual motion machine was just plain unnatural, absurd.

When he got to the corridor outside the ward he saw the medical staff industriously finding make-work as far from the room as they could. One made a half-hearted motion to stop him going forward; he ignored her and slid around the clot of carts loaded with medical supplies in an almost believable unintentional barricade. "This should be interesting," he thought.

It was only a few steps, but that change of viewpoint made all the difference. There was Sensei having an animated, if whispered, argument with Naruto, who was obviously in his stubborn and thick as a brick mode of existence. His face lit up when he saw Sasuke outside, and he motioned with his good arm to come in. At that Sensei seemed to give up, and with a strange look of relief gave the invalid a little smack on the head and said that she would go get Sakura. She gave Sasuke a little smile as she went by.

"Hey, sit down guy! Sensei has gone for Sakura, I've got something to say and bein' weak and all I don't want to have to say it twice. Actually I might chicken out if I had to. How's it been? Sensei said that we really lead the pack in finishing. Anybody else we know make it yet?"

Sasuke looked around, and then went out to scavenge a few extra chairs from some unused rooms. Evidently expectations had been that a larger number of people would have been in need of medical attention. Sasuke wasn't sure if that meant that the examinees were tougher than expected, or fewer had survived than estimated in the first place. After he had set up the extra chairs he planted himself in one, and got the second surprise of the day.

Out from under the bed ninja-cat Hiroshi scooted, bounced off of a wall, and landed in the lap of a surprised boy. "Gotcha!" the feline said.

Naruto laughed. "He showed up early this morning, right about when I first came to. Said that he'd have been here sooner, but they didn't know, back at your house, where we'd gone off to. Said that ANBU came a day or so ago and dug up the pieces of Kabuto-chan, and one of the ANBU got a little fresh with Tamaki, but she had put him in his place. Wish I'd seen that".

Sasuke was too busy stroking the cat's fur to do more than listen; the cat was too busy purring to add to the conversation.

"So Hiroshi here says there are like four or so genin teams that he ran across getting here that were either partly or totally wiped out, so we can't feel too bad about just losing one measly arm on one of us. Ya gotta tell me how you handled that creepy guy after I passed out; Sensei said that you could tell me the rest!"

So Sasuke did, at least from his perspective. How using Little Suzu's breeding pond as a protected flank had worked out pretty well. How the Oto ninjas they had run into had some weird-ass modifications built into them, but weren't really that hard to take down. How the girl Kin had said that most of the people that got bitten the way Naruto had, died. Oh, and which teams had come in alive and functional.

"Yeah, Sasuke, Sensei told me that about nine out of ten croak. But I've always been the exception, right? Anyway… that's part of what I have to say when we've got the whole gang here. About how I'm not the average dead-last ninja.

"Do you know, they were trying to get Sensei to agree to let them cut my arm off? 'Cause she's like my crazy parent or something and they wanted to get her permission."

"That's loco parentis, you idiot," Sasuke cut in, while Naruto grinned at him.

"And doesn't she make a great locally-crazy parent? She's that way for you, too. Sakura's still got her folks, so anything like that would go through them. But at the same time we're supposed to be adults, and responsible for all sorts of things we haven't had any chance to learn about. I got the feeling that the game may be rigged a bit. Anyway, Sensei didn't let them, which is good 'cause I'm going to get it back in shape one way or another.

"Sensei told me about the crazy thing from the bite, but you don't have to worry about that at least. Other things, but not that.

"So, Sakura stayed here a lot while I was out of things. Do you think it would be a good time to ask her out on a date? I've been holding off so long so she wouldn't be angry at me for nagging her all the time, but maybe she's seen the better side of me by now."

"You don't have a better side, Naruto!" said Sakura as she and Anko came into the room. "Oh, it's good to see you, Hiroshi!"

When she sat down the tabby-coated ninja gracefully leapt into her lap. He honored and obeyed Lord Uchiha, but give him a girl's lap and her cunning fingers to stroke him any day!

Naruto began: "This is something important, and for team ears only. Includes you, Hiroshi, you're Sasuke's ninja-companion, an' better than any pooch."

Anko-sensei interrupted, "In that case check the area, and Hiroshi stays at the door. With his ears he'll hear everything anyone has to say anyway, and still keep watch."

Reluctantly, the furry ninja slipped off of the lap he occupied, and took his place where he could see if anyone tried to come too close to the open door or tried to slip into an adjacent room for a little through-the-walls soundproofing checking.

"First, my confession," Anko said.

"What's his name?" Sakura asked. And then ducked the lightning-quick kunai that almost managed to trim her hair before it stuck in the wall.

"As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, this is my confession. Nothing I've lied to you about; some important background, though.

"My Jonin-sensei, when I was a genin, was Orochimaru the Sannin. It was before he was discovered to have gone bad; while the investigation that found him out was going on, in fact. My teammates and I were among the first to get the Cursed Seal of Heaven, what the Kin girl called 'the Bite.' The other two died. I pulled through. "

At that she pulled down the collar of her coat and showed the genin the left side of her neck. Three comma-like marks in a circle lay there, black with a thin red tracery over them. Naruto recognized it as some sort of a counter-seal.

"That's the black marks you see there; the red stuff are a canceling seal that holds it in, and stops it from working. If it wasn't contained I'd have probably gone crazy long ago, and there would be no way I could have been trusted to be your Sensei.

"It's probably kind of dead right now, after so long without anything to feed it, but what it does is give you lots of extra chakra when it gets activated. It also changes your body some while it's used, and burns out certain parts of your brain. Self-control, willpower, that sort of thing. Long term planning also. You become very suggestible too; there is some tricky chakra work in it that does that when the proper jutsu is used. Orochimaru didn't tell me that part, though, just that I was special because I was his first survivor, and I'd always been his favorite. Then he did some complicated jutsu and marched me around like a puppet, and said I'd be his first perfect follower.

"I just yelled out how much I loved him, because I did… he'd made sure we all did… and he let me drop. When he went to get rid of the others' bodies, and started to fill me in on the cover story we'd use to explain the deaths, I took a kunai and stabbed myself, going for the heart. I was still too shaky from the bite, and didn't do a good job. He heard though, and when he turned around and saw he said I was just another failure, even though I was the first to survive the actual injection. Then he left me to die slow."

Sakura had gotten up, and settled her arm around the shoulders of the usually confident woman. Anko was drawn into herself, arms and legs held tightly together as she recounted her story.

"I loved him, but he was talking about how it was going to be tricky to get bodies to build his perfect army, at nine dead to one success. How we'd have to leave the village after he cleaned up some of his experiments and got the specimens to someplace he could spend enough time to study them. I couldn't… I couldn't help him kill that many people, and the way he said 'specimens'…

"Long story short, the ANBU who were good enough to follow him without even him knowing it got me to the hospital in time. I still don't know if I spilled anything while I was under the anesthetics or not, but within thirty-six hours he was a missing-nin with a hundred-million ryo bounty on his head. We've had inflation since then; it was worth more at the time.

"I was one of his genin; most people acted as if I had helped him, been his accomplice. It was hard to get placed on another squad, hard to pretend I thought the insults and dirty jokes were just fun. I endured, found the right people. Time, and acting like I didn't care, let me outlive most of the scandal; getting damn good didn't hurt either. The Hokage was there for me; finally he gave me a chance with you guys. I've busted my ass, and been busting yours too, to show him I was worthy of his trust. And that's the story of me.

"As a closing note for this little bedtime story, the Oto girl said that Orochimaru evidently got the Cursed Seal to work so that maybe one in five or so survive. So if he'd of got Sasuke; you'd have gotten stronger kid, at least there was maybe a 20% chance of it. But he'd have played you like a flute; you'd have only ended up making the tunes he wanted. So… going after Itachi someday… come on, it's not anything hidden that you want to… that would only happen if it fit his plans at the time. And he'd set you up to fail in a heartbeat if he thought it would be interesting to observe, or give him a chance to learn something from either of you. He'd end up using the loser's body for spare parts, also."

Well, thought Sasuke, there went any idea he had had about letting the others in on his suspicions that the Uchiha Massacre might have had involvement from high up in the government, maybe even from the Hokage's Office. Or at least Anko-sensei was out; the debt she felt to the Hokage was obviously too great for her to ignore. Sakura… that was tougher, but after hearing how Sensei had been led on… he'd have to think more on Sakura. It wouldn't be fair to her, using her heart against her. Naruto? He didn't seem to be completely enamored of how things were run or done. Maybe…maybe he was just glad he had another reason to stall doing anything, and risking being in on Naruto's elaborate masquerade, Sakura's graceful dance of skill and passion, and Sensei being a big sister better by far than his big brother had ever been. Was his problem trusting them, or trusting himself?

Naruto cleared his throat, and began: "Sensei, anytime you need someone to back you up against Snake-bastard, you can be sure that we'll be there for you. Right, guys?"

As he looked at his fellow genin he saw nods, from Sasuke in his chair, Sakura behind her teacher (still kneading her tensed-up shoulders), and even the cat in the doorway. There were actually a lot of questions Naruto wanted to ask Sensei, but he needed to get his piece said before he chickened out. He had his little speech and historical lecture ready, and once he saw that no one else was going to bring up a new topic of conversation he had no excuse not to start.

"Here goes: I was born on the day the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked Konoha. There were probably a few other kids born on that day, but I was the one that won the booby-prize. It turns out that the Fourth wasn't just strong; he was smart enough to know you can't really kill any of the Tailed Beasts. Yeah, I know that everybody celebrates how he killed it; ain't so. I heard that from the Hokage himself, and from someone who knows even better than him. I heard it from the Fox.

"Ya don't kill those things; you seal them and contain them. Sometimes in special relics, sometimes in people."

Sakura didn't like how this little speech was going. She didn't know exactly what the next few words were going to be, but she was afraid that she knew what they would end up meaning.

"And the best place to seal one of those things is in a baby as young as you can get; like born that day. One that was just hanging around, being useless and all; an orphan so there'd be no family complications."

At that Naruto shoved down the sheet that covered his upper body, and hauled up the medical nightgown he was wearing. On his abdomen a complicated diagram slowly appeared, glowing crimson.

"So if you're strong enough, and gotta handle one of those things you seal it in a little kid, and he can hold it for you, as long as he lives. He gets stronger chakra, he even heals a lot faster than most people 'cause of that. There's even a special name for them, 'Jinchuriki.' Depending on the seal he can be able to use some of his prisoner's demon chakra, also. Some Hidden Villages use these Jinchuriki as weapons. Hell, they all do, one way or another, if they got one to use at all. If the seal is good, you can get someone who is totally great and awesome like me; if they screw up, you get that crazy kid from Suna. You saw him at the first test, a hair's width from goin' berserk over nothin' much at all.

"Anyway, when the Fox got sealed there was a lot of talk about killing the container," at that point Naruto gave a little bow, "and getting rid of the problem, at least for a little while. But the Fourth said before he died that the kid should be considered a hero, suffering for the town, so a bunch of the ninja leaders and the Hokage said I should be allowed to live. Because the story got out of what I had in me, lots of people were scared and all, so they took it out on brat with the demon in him. Stupid, but people are like that, right? So they made a law that nobody could actually say what was in me, that way when I got older the kids wouldn't hate me or something. Didn't stop people from making their opinion known, though, did it? You've walked in my form, you've seen it. Stupid damn law; it would have been better to have been open about, but that's politics.

"So, that's how I heal so fast, and that's how I didn't end up being killed by the Cursed Seal thing. I used the Fox's chakra to burn it out from the inside… that's why I kind 'a lost a bit of my muscle-mass and all. I'm not immortal or anything, but I do get some of my energy from it, the Fox. Sometimes, when I look like I'm just not there; well, I'm talking to it in my head. How many people can do something like that and have the Hokage, 'God of Ninja' himself, say he's not crazy? So… the question.

"I'm me, the person you know. Unless I'm a demon playing games. How do you want to deal with me; keep me on the team? Or I'll leave if you can't stand the suspense. I'm a prison, not the prisoner, but you have to be certain of that. I'll understand, whichever way you go."

Sasuke started laughing in a painful, not funny at all, way. He managed to finally get words out as the others looked at him as someone who had just discovered where his pot had cracked.

"You're me," He said pointing to Naruto," just screwed even worse, and flipped around. Damn near no civilians got hurt, so your parents were probably ninja. People treating you for reasons that make no sense, just because of their fantasies about what you are. Everyone gave me a break; extra help if I needed it, training, and I could always get the best stuff. Just because I'm the last Uchiha, not because Sasuke was worth anything in himself.

"You were screwed over every time you tried to do anything, just for being the thing that stops what they're afraid of from getting lose and coming back to finish the job of flattening Konoha. Sensei and Sakura and I have gone around town in your form enough to know how you're treated. The stupid pranks you pulled never came near justifying what you got. The endless sucking up to me was never because of anything I had ever really done myself.

"People let you become a ninja so they could have a super weapon; I'm trying to make myself into one. Kids were told by their parents to avoid you because… because I guess, if they couldn't talk about you due to that law. People told their kids to hang around the Uchiha, because he had all sorts of great things coming in his future."

"Hey, no one ever told me to get interested in you!" Sakura broke in angrily.

"No, you and the other girls were at least just silly kids with a crush on Mr. Tragic Cool Prince."

"Hey!" burst out again.

"You, at least, got better. And that's why I can talk to you like a real person," Sasuke continued.

"You can deal with Naruto also, and you," Sakura said, then turning back to Naruto, "you idiot; if you turn out to be a demon in disguise I'll tell you a dirty joke about Kiba and kill you while your rolling on the floor laughing at it. You know I can do it!"

_Anko had thought that Naruto's revelation would have set off a commotion, but not like this one. Sasuke certainly was taking it well, and also letting off a lot of pressure that he had been building up for some time, evidently. Sakura was shooting Death Glances at Sasuke for implying she still had any of her fangirl tendencies, while going over to Naruto and gently pulling down his nightshirt and tucking the sheets around him neatly. If she had to make a bet at this point, she wouldn't put any money on this team breaking up._

_ The cat walked over from its post by the door, stretched itself out in a sort of flowing, four-footed bow, and told Sasuke that he should stop with the self-pity and accept that Sora-ku and all its warriors and civilians were his, and he should get some kittens soon so they didn't have to go and sniff out someone who was a distant cousin of his to give their allegiance if he died._

_ As she walked away from the bed Sakura gave a little cuff to Naruto's head, barely ruffling his hair. "What I do?" he whined. The girl just smiled._

_ As usual, Anko tried to close a full team (one with the Sensei present) meeting with some professional advice: "You should start getting scouting reports together on what the other teams are capable of. The next contest is traditionally some sort of tournament duel; either one on one, or team on team. Work out your strategies, as well as how to handle things if Naruto can't recover in time. The time to prepare will be about a month, and that arm looks pretty much like a chicken leg to me. Even with the way you heal, kid, to get it back in shape will probably take longer than that." With that comment the Jonin left the room for her students to get their emotions back in control by themselves._

_ "You always have to try to upstage me, Sasuke. Have you looked into that?" said Naruto's voice._

_ "So I'm a drama queen, live with it."_

_ "Idiots!" said a higher pitched voice._

Later, after Naruto was through telling his teammates as much about the Fox as he could understand, Sakura walked away, pensive. Hiroshi was nestled on her right arm, while her left kept up a gentle massage behind his ears, or between his shoulder blades. He was heavier than he looked, more solid muscle than his lithe frame would indicate. But she was holding him just because she liked him, cats, and anything so connected to Sasuke. And anyway, she had grown strong enough to help her friends.

Idiots! Not her teammates; they had just been joking around. The people in town. According to Naruto, if a container was killed the Beast was freed, sometimes to wander bewildered for a time in a weakened state, sometimes in the mood for some payback for its inconvenience. Had the townsfolk of Konoha been properly informed? They must have been; she certainly would have told them everything, if she had been in charge. But she was thirteen; no doubt politics meant something else had been done. She would have to try to find out exactly what the law about Naruto was.

As for breaking up Team Anko; even if she never got a chance at Sasuke, every day they had been together had been everything she had ever dreamed about, when she had decided to become a ninja. Scary, certainly, but she always knew that they had her back, and they trusted her to cover theirs. She wasn't "Billboard Brow" or "Miss Forehead" to them. Even in the beginning, when Sasuke had seriously been criticizing her, it had never been about how she looked; it had been about how hard she was willing to work. She had handled that, and now it wasn't the two heavy-hitter boys and the girl for balance. It was just Team Anko, and don't get in their way!

Still, she knew her strongest point was just being smart, so it was time to start analyzing what skills they would be needing in a month, and who exactly they would be having to face. During the time Naruto had been out she hadn't really be paying too much attention to what had been going on in the rest of the tower. It was time to start taking the roll, and working up some lists and training schedules.

Hiroshi was content to be carried around and gently scratched. He was getting a very good tour of the ninja world, and he loved the feeling of being carried by such a good-smelling girl. As he had wandered through the village he had been petted often enough, and even had to escape being captured and confined as a pet, but only Tamaki and Sakura really smelled perfect to him, each in their own way.

Hmm. Team Asuma: another big, heavy hitter, and two mind/body control specialists. Choji was decent, but Naruto (if he was up for the Third part of the Exam) and Sasuke could handle him. She'd have to work on better non-lethals; he was a friend, after all. As for Ino and Shikamaru; they moved fast and erratically, and attacked from a distance. Shika could be especially difficult, but he really didn't have much stamina compared to her team; he could be worn out.

She knew Team Kurenai had come in: Kiba was a bit harder to deal with than Choji, but still basically a straight-up fighter with something like a more durable Shadow-Clone. Shino's strength was his insects, so getting them out of the way was important. Perhaps an aerosol? Naruto and she would need something like that, Sasuke had his wide angle fire jutsus that could take care of things for him. Hinata… some sort of eye-bloodline talent. That would need research.

Team Guy… another Hyuga; a different Taijutsu specialist, and Tamura Tenten with her expert missiles. Well, Tamura had been rated highly at the Academy for melee weapons too, so getting close wasn't necessarily a sure tactic for winning. For balance, though, Sakura had Quick Needle, Naruto had his Clone Army, and Sasuke had the Sharingan to help him evade. Team Guy should be doable. She gave a little grin, and began to wander in the direction where the successful teams were being lodged. Perhaps she should do some groundwork laying…

When she visited Team Kurenai only Kiba (and his canine partner, Akamaru) were in. It wasn't hard to get Kiba to start boasting about how they had tracked and gotten the Earth scroll they had needed. When she asked how they had handled the wildlife of the Forest he had gotten a little defensive; Shino had done the best he could, but there were entirely too many bug eating and trapping things there, and his allies had been intimidated by an environment far more dangerous than that which they had grown up with in the village itself and in the more normal woods around it. It had been Hinata who had worn herself out detecting the dangers, especially those under the surface of the streams and marshes they had had to cross, and who had taken care of this huge thing that had dropped down on Shino and had been trying to bite his head off until she had finally found a series of vulnerable chakra points to attack.

While the humans chatted… one giving away everything, the other little except that Naruto had woken up and was feeling a bit better… the animals introduced themselves in their own way. Akamaru had been firmly instructed by his elders that the odd, Uchiha-scented cats were not the type you chase. At least not if you valued your ears. Well, certainly the tom the girl had brought with her was polite enough, and friendly. Still, it was a bit confusing. What did the Alpha, Kuromaru, know about them?

After a bit Sakura went on her way, after just having a little talk with an old schoolmate. She was secretly impressed by the Hyuga's ability to take out a Drop Bear by herself. If you weren't prepared they could be pretty damn intimidating. She wasn't really competition for Sasuke, of course, no matter how cute she might be. The long, cold feud between the Uchiha and the Hyuga meant that no matter if she was a Sasuke fan there was no chance her family would allow her to do anything about it. With this happy thought Sakura continued to catch up with the others from her town, and see if anything important could be learned.

Rock Lee was just coming back from showering after exercise, and was toweling off his hair when he saw her: slender, graceful, delicate features, hair like flower petals, carrying and stroking her pet in the cutest way as she advanced, smiling. His heart started beating as hard as it had after he had first run around the walls of Konoha on his hands alone…

_ Sarutobi Hiruzen, Third Hokage of Konohagakure, considered the results of the Second Test of the current Chunin Examination. Of the twenty teams that had entered the Forest of Death ten had come out alive. Or at least with a member or two alive. Six with the needed qualifications for advancement to the Finals. More might have survived if Orochimaru hadn't eliminated a team for the purposes of gaining disguises, and if the team from the Village Hidden in the Sand didn't have a psychopathic Demon Beast Container on it. Of all the poorly conceived ideas for creating a Jinchuriki weapon for combat their methods were absolutely the worst he had ever seen. A sword without a hilt; a caltrop as dangerous for the user as for the target. Compare that to Naruto… as badly as Konoha had handled the situation they had at least __tried__ to make a functional human being out of their container, and now (according to his Jonin-sensei) the boy was even helping Uchiha Sasuke to heal at last from his emotional traumas. A pity about his wound, though._

_ Six teams had completed the Second Test; eighteen aspirants. Nine matches would be too many for an interesting Final Tournament; there would end up someone getting a free advancement in front of the crowd. That might start rumors of chicanery. Eight finalists would be a better number; four fights on the first day, and then the semi-finals and finals on the next. With people getting there a day early, and scheduling the Final Bout late in the afternoon the tourists and notables would end up spending at least four days in the hotels and restaurants of Konoha. Just about right._

_ Winnowing the number of potential fighters down could be done out here, in the Forest, as the finish of the Second Test. Let's see; the teams from Suna and Amegakure had finished well. For diplomatic reasons some of them should be spared as much chance of failure as possible in the preliminaries. It shouldn't be hard to fix the lottery so that all their important members would be kept out of the risk pool, fighting the other top contenders. A bye here would be easy to arrange, also._

_ One Hyuga should be enough. Have the two that had survived so far fight each other for an open slot. Guy would want his team to get as much practice in as possible, so with the Hyuga problem taken care of, have that boy Lee take out Anko's girl. A pleasant little thing, Sarutobi remembered, clever but no powerhouse, and with no political importance either. Everyone would have to fight at least one round, but the opponents could be set up properly. Then if one of the foreign contestants looked like they needed to get a bye for the second round of preliminaries it could be arranged. It would just have to be done properly; otherwise it would look too much as if the picks and pairings were fixed. As the afternoon light faded Sarutobi made his careful selections; this evening let the children have their dinner, then settle the fights. Before he announced anything, though, he would have to remember to have the 'randomizer' properly adjusted so the matchups came out right. Proper preparations were at least half the battle._

"The Hokage has a few words to speak to you," said a Jonin to the mystified genin who had been told to congregate in a large stone-clad chamber in the tower in the woods. Four meters from the flagstone floor there was a railed gallery, with ring of harsh lights shining down onto the assembly below. There was also a self-illuminating notice board of some type, with lightning chakra lighting elements, currently with nothing marked on it. Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Hokage of Konohagakure, known as the "Professor," and also as the "God of Shinobi" stepped forward and looked benignly down onto the young faces below.

"Due to your own hard efforts, and team excellences, you have advanced thus far in the Chunin Examinations. However, for reasons of practicality the Third Test would be difficult to present in a manner that would allow the successful applicants for advancement to be properly evaluated with the numbers currently eligible,. Since the Third Test is one of individual skills, as well as strategic thinking, it has been decided that a preliminary series of bouts will take place to select the eight genin who will go on in a month's time to combat in the great arena of Konoha, in front of not only your peers, but also many notables, and the general public. Daimyos and Kages will be there, as well as hundreds of important people who will one day be your clients. If you impress them!

"Each of you will be randomly matched with an opponent you must defeat. Use no power that extends beyond the confines of the area you are in. Once an opponent is unconscious or yields you must cease fighting, or when the referee tells you to. Otherwise the only rule is that you must not leave the area of combat, or gain any physical help from the outside of it. We will now have the first pair of contestants selected."

With that the notice board began to glow, and slowly the characters for the names Hyuga Hinata and Hyuga Neji became visible.

"Will those not selected please leave the fighting area in an orderly manner. Please also note that any aid given to those fighting will disqualify you immediately." With that the Jonin up on the walkway with the Jonin-senseis of the successful teams and the Hokage, leaped down, giving a slight cough as he landed.

As the genin clustered around the single exit, passing the branching corridor where a medical trauma team with stretchers was waiting, and up a stair to the observation gallery, Uzumaki Naruto's face was furrowed in deep thought. His free hand, the one not on the arm in a sling, twitched a little, and he finally came to a decision. He angled himself out of the main clot of those exiting, and went over to an obviously nervous Hyuga Hinata. She seemed even more over-wrought as he approached.

"I've been thinking, Hinata-san, and this Neji guy is older, bigger, stronger and more experienced than you."

"I… I must fight, Naruto-kun, please don't ask m… me to give up."

"Naw, this isn't a time for that. I'll have to, with my messed up wing. Just, I was thinking, you should act all nervous, and get yourself set-up all sloppy, and half-fall over when he gets in close to ya, and he will 'cause you're both Taijutsu types. And if there is even a chance he lets himself get sloppy, go in crazy. Don't hold anything back. He's got more reserves than you, so a longer fight is better for him. Throw everything in at the start, and risk everything. All offense, 'cause I can remember how you were fighting back in the Academy, and your style is pretty reflexive-defense. And if that's still how you do things, you gotta surprise him. May not work, but think about it. If nothing else it'll shock the hell out of him."

"I will think about that, Naruto-kun. Thank you for your… care."

As the boy walked away Hinata was already re-evaluating her battle plan. She had fought against Neji too often in training back in the Hyuga compound to have any doubts that Naruto had been right. In fact he hadn't even included the clincher argument; Neji was plain better than her to begin with. Over the years she had developed an automatic flinch when she had to spar with him, especially in front of her father's censorious eyes. Hoping to make at least a passable show she normally would work at creating as firm a defense as she could. But no matter how she tried, the best she could do would only prolong her slow demolition. Perhaps it would be better to follow Naruto's advice; the worst that would happen was that she would have her beating happen all at once, and not extended as long as her angry cousin could drag it out, until she finally fell, all her non-fatal tenketsu points closed off, and her body (twitching in pain) collapsed. And didn't _The Book of Five Shrunken_ say things like "all combat is based on deception" and "on death ground, attack?" She would just extend that to "on getting slowly beaten up in public ground, attack!"

_From his position up in the observer's gallery Rock Lee looked as his teammate activated his Byakugan and slowly stalked forward toward his younger cousin. The girl was doing everything but shaking with terror, evidently the many disparaging comments Neji had made about her (and the Main House of the Hyuga in general) had a solid foundation in fact. She had even drawn a kunai, something any really proficient Gentle Fist practitioner would have disdained. As one who had fought against the Gentle Fist (not yet with any great degree of success) Lee was able to see that Hinata-san's feet were all wrong for using the style, they were placed… oddly. More like one of the Academy attack stances, or at least the middle position of one. The girl was waving the kunai at about shoulder level and told her cousin to back off, she was serious this time. Neji, simultaneously, was informing her what a failure she was, had been, and always would be, all with considerable relish._

_ It was only when he had approached almost to punching range that she clumsily tossed the knife over his shoulder, and seemed to half-collapse. That was when Lee saw what was a truly well performed lunge kick (the girl's body propelled by her off leg and the arm that first hit the ground) into Neji's left kneecap. Then she sort of…flowed into contact with her elder cousin before he could establish a proper distance, and for the next thirty seconds things looked more like an Inuzuka brawl than an elegant Gentle Fist duel. It was all too intense to last long, and the two broke apart._

_ Hinata wearily came to her feet, while her cousin stood awkwardly on trembling legs, trying to alter his classically balanced stance to protect the one that wanted to collapse under him. The girl was bleeding from her broken nose, and the blood trickling down her chin was a mixture of her self-bitten tongue and the glorious three seconds she had had Neji's left thumb between her teeth. She looked up toward the gallery for a second, Lee was sure of that, then looked at her opponent and said, "Are we having fun yet, cousin?" Then she coughed, and out came a huge gush of blood. She collapsed, beating Neji to the ground by a second or two. The Jonin referee looked up to the Hokage, and got his signal._

_ "Bout to Hyuga Neji, by a knockout! Medics in here now!"_

_ As the girl was carried out at a rush to the medical wards, Tenten noticed Lee smiling manically. At her inquiring glance the boy answered aloud: _

"_The supple girls of Konoha_

_Their spirits bright and gay_

_Who would choose another one_

_When they are there to play?"_

_ "Oh no," she thought to herself. "Lee's fallen in love, again!"_

After Hyuga Neji had been helped out of the arena the Board lit up with the next set of competitors. Reading their names, Choji and an Amegakure genin named Mubi ambled to the stairway down to the arena.

In a few moments the floor of the place was obscured by numerous and ominous looking forms, slowly walking around with bared kunai. The originator of the force had disappeared from view, and it looked like Choji had no idea which way to expect trouble to come from. He suddenly inflated himself into a huge human ball, and began rolling forward, crushing all that was in front of him. They didn't seem to put much energy in getting out of his way, no doubt because they would reform in doubled or tripled numbers after he had passed on. After a few passes through the ever increasing horde the big-boned boy stopped, resumed his normal shape and size, and scratched his head. A smile flashed across his face and he made a longish leap to the wall of the arena, and stuck there. Getting to his feet, at a 90 degree angle to the vertical, the boy walked up the wall until he was twice his height above the floor, and watched the milling throng below, a kunai in his hand.

After several tedious minutes the massed illusions suddenly dispersed, and one Ame ninja was seen standing in the middle of the area looking desperately for where his opponent had disappeared to. Before he could find the answer to that question, Choji's arm suddenly extended itself a half-dozen meters, and stuck the kunai in the genin's side. Before the ninja from Rain could get a defense organized the noticeably slimmer-than-before Konoha genin was on him with flattening force. The battle was over soon thereafter.

Naruto nodded contentedly at the conclusion of the battle. He liked Choji (everyone liked Choji), and the way the big lug had used his head in this battle was very satisfying for someone who had ditched so many classes with him.

The Board lit up with the next names: Haruno Sakura and Rock Lee. The girl leaned over to her two teammates and whispered to them what she was going to do. Knowing that this wasn't going to be a thriller battle either, Naruto asked if she minded him going to visit the girl in the med-ward. After all, it was following his advice that had landed her there, and he felt a little responsible. Since they already knew what would happen when his name was called both of this teammates told them to give her their best, and as Sakura went down to the arena floor to make history, Naruto went on his social call.

_ Down on the floor below the spectators, Sakura stood pertly, hands behind her back, and her smiling face tilted to the right. Lee was in a solid stance, ready to dodge a missile or rush into combat. To say he was a little bewildered was an understatement. He had, of course, been greatly taken with her the other day when she had been going around and visiting all the other Konoha teams that had succeeded at the Second Test. But right now he felt like he wanted to stuff that cute face with cotton candy and take her on the nearest merry-go-round (a rollercoaster would undoubtedly scare the little thing). She put her hands in front of herself, and gave a little wave._

_ "Before we meet in vicious conflict, shouldn't we show all those people from other places that we're always going to be there for each other? Konoha forever, and all? Just a little hug, pleeease?" And the girl skipped forward like a five year old at the zoo. Lee's perfect combat stance broke down immediately, if only to allow him to hide his inappropriate… interest, in the child approaching him._

_ "A hug, and then we'll settle things, right?" she asked._

_ Up in the observer's gallery, Tamura Tenten looked dumb-founded at the scene. What was Lee __doing__? He had been trained (thoroughly and with much interminable repetition) to recognize and break out of genjutsu. She began to yell out to the boy that he should stab himself or something. To no avail, as pink-haired doom approached._

_ "Just one little hug, and then we'll start, right?" Sakura asked the boy with his hands modestly covering his front. He nodded with a glazed-eye grin. She wrapped her arms around him, found the right place on his neck, and gently pressed for the 42 seconds until he collapsed to the ground from the pressure point induced lack of circulation to the brain (not that he was using it that much at the time, anyway)._

_ As the startled call came out, "Victor by knockout, Haruno Sakura!" Tenten jumped down to the floor and rushed at the other girl, until at about ten steps away her feet slowed, as she realized that the cute girl over there was the little sister she had always wanted, so unlike the one mere random chance had actually inflicted on her. And then that feeling was gone, and she wanted to bash Sakura's head in again._

_ "It was the least I could do, you know. Otherwise I'd have had to hurt him, and that would destroy his faith in women… like forever!" Haruno had said the last bit with a little breathless exclamation; in a voice suitable for stage, screen, or bachelor parties._

_ Tenten began to back off, slowly. She had heard that if you ran creatures like that would just start to chase you. Now she knew why Team Anko was talked about with nervous whispers everywhere the genin of Konoha met._

_ On the gallery above Uchiha Sasuke was lying on the floor, laughing silently, but hysterically. She had put together the Cute and just a touch of Lust Technique, and taken out one of the strongest fighters among the genin of Konoha in less than two minutes, and with a minimum of violence if not embarrassment. It was wise to remember that a pretty girl, if she kept her wits about her, was never really unarmed._

_Inexorably the Board brought up the names of the next combatants: Aburame Shino and Tamura Tenten. And the carnage continued._

There were signs telling sightseers to stay out, but Naruto had never been one to let impersonal authorities rule his life. When he looked into the room, he saw the girl through a constantly moving cloud of attendants, most having a green nimbus of healing chakra around their hands as they stepped up to the bedside to touch her bared chest and abdomen. Her nose and jaw were taped up, and her pupiless eyes were staring up at the ceiling. Every now and again a small grunt of reaction came out of her, but otherwise she accepted the physical and chakra manipulation of her bruised body without complaint. Her head tilted for an instant, and she saw him in the doorway. Something in her attitude changed, though he couldn't tell what exactly, and then she returned her gaze up to lighting fixture overhead as some med-nin called out a change in her vital signs. He stayed there for another few minutes, then left. It was obvious she wasn't up to having visitors, and he didn't really know what to say if she had been ready, anyway.

As he began to make his way back to the arena area, he saw Aburame Shino being carried into an unoccupied operating room with what looked like a spear-head in his gut and a kunai still lodged in his shoulder. On seeing his occasional classmate the taciturn genin managed to push out "Tamura… weapon storm…" before having a painful coughing fit. Naruto wondered what the usually polite boy had done to get the girl so pissed off.

He got back just in time to do his own forfeiting. Though he had hated it, he had to agree with Sensei; with only one arm and with his chakra almost fully depleted for the first time he could remember he just wasn't in shape for a fight. Sure, the Fox was willing to give him a big bunch of crispy red chakra, but anytime the Fox was being generous without its own interests being endangered was a time to pass on the deal.

Right after his reluctant acceptance of the inevitable, he was able to see Sasuke do a beautiful mind-screwing of the blond girl from Suna. It was a pleasure to see such an efficient use of skills and equipment. All without a single hint of techniques beyond that a beginning genin should have had been taught, and just a bit more useable chakra than a novice might have access to.

_As Sasuke looked across the fighting area, it was impossible for him to avoid seeing her huge fan and the two smaller ones hanging from her belt. Unless she was a lot more subtle than he thought, that meant she was heavily into wide area wind effects. In the enclosed area they were in that was less effective than it might seem; the walls would create all sorts of back-drafts and eddies that would make any effective directional control after the initial attacks a hope, and not a certainty. As the daughter of the Kazekage it wouldn't be polite to kill or maim her; it wouldn't even be politic. So… all the more reason to have __fun__._

_At the command to start he immediately made five normal Clones, each just off enough that it would seem he couldn't quite make that many perfectly. They were given the initial instructions to evade physical dispersal, and to generally amble towards the girl. She immediately pulled out her big fan, and led off with a mighty wind. Three of the Clones, all still clustered near their creator, survived the tumbling disturbance. Not having any material component they were relatively immune to the least solid of the chakra-linked elements, Wind._

_Sasuke made two more, and set them off at an angle, with the same built-in instructions. The girl flipped some kunai out over the open ground, but the Clones managed to avoid even the smallest touch of the completely solid material that would have dispersed them. As she swung her big fan back into position, having decided to go with her maximum strengths, Sasuke slipped out a kunai of his own, and had to dodge, himself, as a fairly concentrated current of air tried to lift him off his feet and slam him into the curving wall. Another of his Clones had been caught in the wind, and had been impacted enough to disappear. He made another, slightly slower than before, and a bit more distorted, as if he was running low on chakra._

_After that it was more playing tag with the breeze From her fan's tilt and direction, and by the way the dust was stirred up as the wind was gathered and accelerated ,he could keep fairly good track of her attacks. If they had been in a larger open area she would have had the advantage of long ranged attacks on her side, but the pit they were in was an awkward size for her techniques. Every once in a while a Clone was eliminated, to be replaced by an increasingly malformed one._

_After he felt she was getting sufficiently annoyed in general, he finally flipped his kunai at her, with two timed-for-ignition tags attached. She was able to stop the missile midway between them just as the tags went off: explosion and incendiary._

_While the noise and obscuring flame blocked her view he quickly formed a perfect Clone of himself, and put a henge disguise of an almost Naruto-from-the-Academy-quality Clone on his own form, and as the perfect imitation ran off in one direction Sasuke absentmindedly wandered closer to the girl, taking care to get out of the way of any of her attacks that she had become set on focusing on the visible "Uchiha Sasuke." He was able to get into his preferred strike distance just about when she managed to eliminate her "Sasuke" target. Before she could put it all together and start hunting down the only other moving things in the arena, he threw the kunai he had been preparing while apparently wandering around like a poorly directed phantom. He willingly sacrificed accuracy for speed; after all, his target wasn't small._

_Before she could notice where all the surviving Clones were she felt something impact on her Battle Fan, followed by an explosion that wrecked it beyond any possible use. Then Uchiha Sasuke was on her, false appearance abandoned, and she was forced into an unequal bout of hand-to-hand. She was actually longer limbed, as well as more experienced, but this was his favorite of the ninja arts and he was very, very good at it. In a dozen quick exchanges she was knocked to the ground, and had the hilt of a kunai slammed into the back of her head, ending the match._

"_Victor by knockout, Uchiha Sasuke!"_

_The Announcing Board slowly lit up with the names of Gaara of the Sands, and Inuzuka Kiba._

The final line up had managed, when the results of the secondary elimination round were figured in (Choji vs the eventual victor, Shikamaru) with a few surprises along the way, to have two Ame, one Suna and five Konoha genin scheduled for the final, public demonstrations of their strength a month away. Gaara of Suna, Oboro and Kagari of Amegakure, and a selection of Konoha ninja: Haruno Sakura, Tamura Tenten, Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuga Neji, and Nara Shikamaru. Sarutobi was pleased, even though his carefully arranged plans had not, in all cases, gone as he had expected. It was unfortunate that the actual final combats couldn't be finagled as easily as these secluded and isolated ones, but only one important person had been dangerously injured (and the doctors said they were almost certain that Inuzuka Kiba's spine would recover from the Sand Coffin jutsu in the course of the next few months).

_It was also true that Temari of Suna had an immense grudge against Uchiha Sasuke and his use of basic clones and a cunningly bad disguise jutsu to get close enough to knock her out. That use of cheap, basic level skills to get a victory was too much for her pride to bear. Oddly enough, when he realized exactly what had happened it had produced the first laugh anyone had heard come from her youngest brother in years._


	11. Chapter 10

I do not own, or receive any benefit, from the Naruto properties.

A Teacher's Glory: A Union of Rejects: Chapter 10

By Larry Huss

Temari didn't know what to make of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, or its ninja. They should both be soft and vulnerable. So much water and vegetation; nothing there to toughen up and sharpen the edges of a people. Yet they lived next to that hell-pit they called the Forest of Death (and she had no reason to doubt the accuracy of that name) with no concern or worry. Endless swarms of vermin that had managed to even get through Gaara's protection; what Kankuro and she had ended up dealing with would haunt her nights, at least until the medics' analgesic and anti-inflammatory lotions banished the welts and swellings.

She really hadn't even been able to figure out how good the Konoha genin were. Not that it would matter soon, but still it rankled that some of them seemed to defy her efforts to ferret out their secret skills. The Uchiha were a well known family, yet in beating her the slimy little bastard hadn't even used the famous Sharingan. Did he have it or not? How did the pineapple-haired slacker take over Kankuro's puppet and threaten him with it? "My fingers started doing things by themselves," wasn't a very convincing explanation from her brother. The Hyuga were supposed to be possessors of some highly advanced bloodline, and use an elegant style in combat. Yet when the two that had started off the elimination rounds had faced each other it had looked like a grudge match between two pit-fighters; skilled enough in its own way, but based on inflicting berserker damage with no hint of defense. What the pink-haired girl had done to the boy she had faced was something Temari still wasn't sure of, just that it worked.

Now, as the Suna party were trekking back home for a month's time (not training really; Gaara didn't need to train for anything, and both she and Kankuro had been knocked out of the Exams) she wondered if she would be going back to Konoha for the final combats maybe as a tourist. Perhaps she and Kankuro would be part of the outside assault forces. Or would her punishment when she had to report her failure back to Father be so severe that she wouldn't be up and about by then in any case?

Temari knew that she would obey the Kazekage, even if the job was dangerous and/or disgusting. At fifteen she wasn't about to start claiming superior wisdom about local conditions to the survivor of dozens of vicious political and physical fights for power. It was just… severing a long-standing alliance was a major step, and doing so in the most treacherous way possible had potential to come back and bite them all on the ass in the long run. All ninja villages were expected to look out for themselves first and foremost, but getting a reputation for unreliability was counterproductive.

Well, on the long trip back to Suna she would have a lot of time to talk to Kankuro about things. It was just too bad that her family was so small; she had so many questions and puzzles she would have loved to be helped with. But Nurse had died, Gaara couldn't be expected to understand her concerns, Mother was gone, Baki was the Kazekage's man first and foremost, and she had never had a father, except officially. Lately he had been even more distant and absent to his own children than he was to the average ninjas he dealt with. Yet not so distant that her being the Kazekage's daughter hadn't driven away half the young people in Suna that she could have confided with. The rest were, as far as she could tell, divided between those who would screw a knothole in a fence, and those who were applying for positions as sycophants in the false hope that getting close to the eldest child of the Kazekage would advance their careers. That Yamanaka girl back in Konoha had actually been more fun in the few days she'd got to talk to her back in the tower in the forest than anyone back home. A little young and ditzy perhaps, but clever and a cheerful gossip.

_Sakura was feeling depressed, despite her stylish victory in the preliminary bout against the older genin boy. Her big contribution to the ninja art, Quick Needle Technique, was overshadowed by at least two other, similar, attacks. Tamura's Twin Rising Dragons technique saturated an area with steel, and that Suna freak's (really, dressing up in cat-pajamas and using face paint?) puppet had barrages of kunai and senbon needles ready to shoot, as well as clouds of poison gas and whirling saw blades. It was hard not to pout, or break down like a child and start crying. _

_The boys were sympathetic, but not really helpful at all. Sasuke just commented that it reminded him of when he first discovered that his basic Fire Release Technique was actually pretty limited in both range and effect on anyone with good mobility and nerves. Naruto had just started to look thoughtful, and had started to say something several times, but then went into some sort of deep meditative trance with his eyes open and darting back and forth as if he was reading something on a scroll that only he could see._

_She didn't want her idiot-savant teammate to find some way to upgrade her creations; she wanted to rescue her own and only original idea from the scrapheap of reinventions of the wheel. It was nice when Naruto had come out of his daze and said that Quick Needles were much faster moving than the puppet missiles and a lot harder to dodge or block. Sasuke's saying that she wasn't often going to have to compete at range with someone as good at missile combat as Tamura Tenten was also accurate enough, but not exactly an ego boosting event. _

_Things got weird when Sasuke shook Naruto's shoulder and began to speak gibberish. "Concentrate, only seven, Iaijutsu?"_

_To which Naruto replied, "Possible; seven grams and nine centimeters, two wrists?"_

"_Good thought. Right seven, left three heavy with special cargo?"_

"_Excellent!" Turning to Sakura, Naruto informed her, with a nasty grin, "We are __so__ going to train you to the ragged edge! __Might __not be ready in time for the Chunin Finals, but you are going to be back on top of things, our little Flower of Doom!"_

"_But Sasuke has to prepare himself for the Finals also!" Sakura protested._

"_Sensei is trying to get some Special Jonin named Namiashi Raido to work with Sasuke; the guy is supposed to be real good with long steel, and will probably give him some new perspectives on jutsu use. Since Kurenai-sensei's team was knocked out completely you'll probably get a lot more time this month with her; how many missions will she be doing anyway, the way her team got knocked around? While she's working with you, Asuma-sensei won't be making out with her, so once I get some of my chakra back I think I can get him to give me some help with Wind Release Techniques. It's not as if I'll be getting into any competitions with Choji or Shikamaru or anything, is it?"_

_Sakura had to admit that it sounded like Naruto had their potential training schedules well thought out; now all she had to do was to make sure that the boys stayed on doing things for themselves and didn't try to make her their charity case, and spend all their chakra and time trying to help her along at their own expense. At least she could spend this evening working out what they had been talking about in their shorthanded way. That was something she could still do better than anyone else._

_Later that night, clean and warm and safe in her own bed, she pulled a piece of white cardboard that had once held a blouse in shape at a store over to her, and took a pen in hand and wrote out the significant points: Iaijutsu, seven, seven grams (which should mean something different than the previous seven), two wrists, with seven on one and three on the other, special cargo. Once she remembered that iaijutsu was a samurai technique for drawing the sword and doing a cut in one motion, it all made so much sense. They hadn't been trying to tease or mystify her; they'd just been too busy to fill in all the neat little words that grammar and syntax usually demanded. It seemed they weren't going to let her work out her problems by herself. Despite her offended pride it felt nice that the first thing that came to their mind to do over the next month was make sure that she stayed up to speed with them. Sasuke cared. Well, __they__ cared, which was even better._

_They cared. And she now knew who they were._

_She tried to think of Naruto as the mighty Kyubi no Yoko. No, she just couldn't do that. No matter how many times she'd been mean to him, he'd never snapped back. He just wasn't demon material. Sure, if Sensei said he was the prison for the thing, Sakura would believe it. It even explained a lot of things about how he'd been treated. It didn't make her scared of him. She just couldn't doubt his basic loyalty and caring. His brains, however…_

_So Sasuke had been as irritated by people trying to make him into a spoiled little prince as by all the girls never allowing him a chance to grow up a while, until he knew what he'd like in a girlfriend. No wonder he'd been so touchy all the time before they were put on the Team together. She wondered if she should let Ino in on any of this. No… it was more fun this way._

_And Sensei had been trained by Orochimaru the Sanin! And he had been trained by the Third Hokage! And he had been trained by the First Hokage! She was part of a string of greatness; it was almost intimidating. Sure, if they got their chance Orochimaru would die, and deserve it. Still, wow!_

_Now she could turn out the lights without any puzzles to keep her mind too tickled to sleep. She wondered; how would the guys spring their little surprise on her?_

A week later Naruto was sitting at Ichiraku's Ramen Bar with a nervous Tamaki. Sasuke was currently having a late picnic luncheon with Sakura and filling her in on their latest research and development concept. There were three Almost-cats near their feet, eating at a bowl of shrimp that hadn't quite met the standards of the head waiter, proprietor, and chief chef that morning when he had pulled them out of the cooling unit. It wasn't quite a date; just as the meeting at the Uchiha compound was mostly a business lunch with the two teammates in the Chunin Exam Finals discussing things relating to their training, as well as the fruits of the male genins' discussions on various theories of projectile efficiencies.

Ayame, chief of the wait-staff, and daughter and heir of the owner (and everything else that kept the place running) was trying not to be too obvious in spying on her favorite customer, here for the first time with someone who was very evidently not a teammate, teacher, or kunoichi of any sort. She had been a little worried about the cats making people think the place was unsanitary, but general business had stayed normal so she put her concerns away, and speculated if Naruto had finally grown out of the little boy stage and had entered his cutely awkward adolescence. About half-way through the little tete-a-tete, Ayame noticed the Hyuga princess… the elder one… standing in a semi-concealed angle where the fronts of several shops intersected awkwardly, about forty meters away. She seemed to be studying a scroll very intently, holding it up to her face so that the direct view of it was blocked. Still, she was one of the twenty or so young genin that had patronized the restaurant in the last year or so, and part of the reputation of any good eating place, even the most humble, was based on knowing and remembering who your customers were. Seeing Naruto do a sudden twitch Ayame turned to him, to ask if he needed another refill, or even another flavor ramen, but he shook his head 'no' and muttered something to his date (?) that he'd be back in a moment.

_As she looked through the plain paper scroll Hyuga Hinata saw a dream and a nightmare approach at the same time. __He__ was coming to her, without any hesitation or confusion. But, as usual, there was nothing her paralyzed mind could figure out to say, and right now she was still a mess from the preliminary bouts that had taken place in the tower in the Forest. Her face was still splotched bruise-green, her nose bandaged to prevent re-injury, and according to her doctor she really shouldn't have been out of bed and in the streets anyway._

_He was right there, smiling and waiting for her to put away her pretense of not stalking him. There was no getting around it; she'd have to embarrass herself, be crass and rude, and run away to never be seen again._

_Lowering the scroll, she allowed herself to plaster a fake smile on her face, her blushing showing her lack of proper emotional control once again, and began to lie: "Oh, hello Uzumaki-kun. Nice to see you; have to run now, something's in the oven!"_

_As she turned to go his good arm flashed out and grabbed her shoulder. Father would have probably declared a vendetta, having someone so low on the social totem pole touch the person who was, at least for the moment, still the official heir to the Hyuga Clan leader. For her part, she just wanted to faint, preferably into his arms._

"_Bad lie, Hinata-san. Come on over and have something with Tamaki and me. Old man Teuchi can get you some tea, and his daughter made some killer mochi with red bean earlier today. My treat!"_

_Well, if he was treating, it would almost like being on a date. The other girl, the one he had __really__ brought here, would still be there, and would add weirdness to how she would remember and fantasize about this when she went home later. She was a Hyuga, and actually one of the best users of the Byakugan in the clan, though she could never make herself believe it. And with being a skilled user of the sight that penetrated non-living matter came the inevitable temptations that made the Hyuga a little odd. To a great extent, the extreme formality and disciplined manners the clan cultivated was in order to control themselves while viewing the myriad temptations they lived amongst daily. If Naruto-kun knew what she thought of him, what she had thought about him a thousand times, what she had __seen__ of him, she would just __die__._

_Holding his arm to steady herself, she felt almost as if she was floating as Naruto-kun led her to a seat in the plain but clean eatery. He asked for tea and "some of that great mochi ya' made, Ayame-chan!" for his guest. Hinata was glad to sit down; she really shouldn't have been doing so much walking around in her state. The tea wasn't one of the blends provided for Main House members, but it had a clean taste, and had a pleasant, slightly bitter tang. The mochi was as good as anything she had tasted at a formal banquet for an important visitor. As Naruto-kun introduced her to the longhaired girl with the attractive light tan, a just-short-of-huge cat with long grey and white fur jumped up into her lap, and curled up._

"_Megumi likes you," the other girl said._

Naruto felt guilty. After his first attempt to see her in the tower infirmary he hadn't gone back to check up on Hinata. Once back in town he had dived into his own exercises, and working with Sasuke on giving Sakura back her edge. He hadn't checked at the hospital about anyone. He felt like such a jerk. Well, that was going to change; there were evening visiting hours, and he'd head over there and cheer up everyone that was still there from the preliminaries, believe it!

Right now Hinata-chan was sitting, looking a lot less shaky now that she had gotten something to eat and drink. She looked horrible, of course. That beating she had taken was awesome, just like her line just before she collapsed. You had to respect someone who does that. He wondered why she wasn't following Sasuke, instead of himself, but he had some things he wanted to explore with her, so he wasn't complaining. Considering how quiet she was with him, if her crush was talking to her, she probably wouldn't have been able to answer any questions at all. He noticed her hand finding the spot, right behind the ear, that made Megumi give a purr-moan of ecstasy.

When he felt that cat-fluffing and the introductory girl talk Tamaki and Hinata had engaged in had slowly begun to die down… well, not the cat-fluffing, actually… Naruto tried to lead the conversation into his area of interest.

"Ya' did pretty good with Cousin Neji, that day. Didn't know much about him beforehand, but listen' in on people afterwards, he ain't the most popular guy in town. Ya' made a good impression, Hinata-san."

"I failed, I lost… again. Like always!"

Her head ducked down, the cat's face lifted up, trying to express concern and inquiring with a mew 'what's wrong?' Megumi knew enough not to try to use her few human words out in the wide world. Naruto reached out again and touched Hinata's shoulder.

"Hell, we knew going in he'd probably win. What ya' did was knock him down about a hundred pegs. Ya' know he didn't stay on his feet more than a few seconds after you hit the ground, right?"

Hinata looked up with surprise; no one had told her anything about the battle afterwards. When she had tried to visit Kiba and Shino they had both been either unconscious or heavily drugged when she was there, and Sensei had been so distracted by having all of her genin team injured that she had never thought of giving any sort of after-action analysis to her most mobile student.

"Don't get down on yourself about it, how many people do you know that beat him up that bad?"

Hinata considered for a moment, then replied, "Guy-sensei. And my Father, of course."

With a sigh Naruto pushed on: "How many people his own age got the best of him that you know of?"

The girl was silent, but her head stopped studying the cat in her lap, and her breath settled into a firmer rhythm.

"Ya' know, it looked like a grudge match, Hinata-san. I thought you Hyuga were all one big, happy family, right?"

She laughed a little, and gasped at the sudden pang from her still-bruised ribs.

"Not exactly; there's the Main House, and the Branch House. And the Main House has its whip and chain to keep the Branch in its proper place of servility. Neji's father was my father's twin, and put into the Branch House to avoid conflicts about succession, so Neji was branded as our slave at age three. And his father died for me, so my cousin hates me. I deserve it, for having killed his father; but it still hurts every time we spar and he gets a legitimate opportunity to show how he feels, and can get away with it as needed training.

"It's just I… I got so tired of being his training dummy, I got mad. So, th-thank you for your advice. And for telling me that I did so well. Sensei… Sensei says I sometimes lack confidence. You say he fell down?"

At the last a small grin appeared on her face; she had seen her cousin fight with Lee, and other genin and even Chunin back in the training area back home. Neji being really damaged by anyone even near his own age and size had become a very rare event in the last few years. A pleasant warmth began to spread from her belly, perhaps it was just the fine tea and pastry.

"She's really a big one, isn't she?" Hinata said, her eyes flicking down to the cat purring in her lap, and then up again to Tamaki's face.

"And a darling too. She's going to have kittens; I think that's been making her even more affectionate." As a sudden thought hit her, Tamaki continued, "But it's all part of a very special breeding program, so even if you're thinking about a pet, I'm sorry, but not from this litter."

That was a little disappointing to Hinata. That would have been her next question.

Into the small, but not uncomfortable silence that followed Naruto dropped his lure.

"Don't ya' think that Cousin Neji might find it useful… a kind of life-lesson in fact… if someone who wasn't a Jonin or a family member gave him a little tutoring in personal humility? Not any family discipline stuff. I can tell you're not into that junk. Just a little lesson not to be an arrogant prick in general?"

Hinata lifted her teacup, and sent the 'please, a little more' glance to the pleasant waitress. As a fresh pot was prepared, Naruto and the other girl engaged in friendly chatter: her grandmother writing to her in thanks for the knitted shawl she had sent in the last supply caravan; his arm looking a little less like an illustration from a religious tract on the seven hells and more like it belonged to someone who had just survived a medium grade famine instead. As they continued, Hinata thought.

It was true her dear Cousin Neji was an arrogant pr…. person. He was just short of rude; sometimes not even that, with his teammate, Lee. And not at all as nice as she deserved with that brash, but sweet, Miss Tamura Tenten either. His frequent comments on his genin comrades, and the civilian population in general, were frequently scathing, for very little provocation that she could ever see. A small lesson in humility would only improve his character, there was no doubt about it.

She had a very good idea what Naruto was going after. As long as she didn't actual show (in fact, she wouldn't even mention) the pain or killing techniques that activated the Caged Bird Seal, it wouldn't be anything more than helping some fellow Konoha ninjas prepare themselves in case they ever met an enemy who had a bloodline, or had been trained in techniques that mimicked the Byakugan. She had seen and read about enough cases of 'secret, ultimate' bloodline talents and forbidden Techniques that had effects, strengths and weaknesses similar to those of other 'secret, ultimate' attacks to be not quite as impressed with her own inherited 'ultimate' family gift as most of the Family were.

"I'd be delighted to help train Sakura-san and Sasuke-kun over the next few weeks, preparing for the possibility they might meet my… unpleasant relative in the coming Final Exams. P-perhaps your Team might help me get back in shape, also?"

"Two hands get cleaner than one," Naruto said, reciting the old proverb.

As her two delightful companions escorted her back to the Hyuga compound, Hinata appreciated the fine Autumn air, the cheerful hubbub of the busy streets, and the knowledge of why her cousin had been avoiding her lately.

She supposed she should be feeling guilty. But after all, the only thing that she had on her agenda while she and her teammates healed would be doing useful, professionally important things with her old schoolmates (and especially Naruto!). Nothing wrong at all.

_Sasuke was glad Naruto only asked about the business part of the meeting with Sakura. She had finally came around, and was going to help with the Quick Needle Mark IIa ammunition rack and payload package upgrade. The blond hadn't asked any more personal questions (and why should he, after all?), so Sasuke had been able to resist the urge to break down and confess. Not that they had done anything wrong, really. It had just been a little kiss, not even any tongue (he was always able to know what to do in a life-and-death battle. Why was he always so slow off the mark when he was with a girl?), and they'd hardly even been awkward when they broke their clinch. _

_By focusing entirely on the technical details of the new equipment, he was able to get through the next few days and nights, and get things in perspective. That didn't mean he wasn't looking at Tamaki's, Sakura's, and almost any other possibly suitable pair of lips (or other parts) with unusual interest for a while though. For instance he was regretting how he had acted when he had caught Ino in the forest in Wave Country more and more…_

_His training was going well. Sensei had done research on chakra control training techniques that had helped him complete the Fire Lance Jutsu. Now, in less time and with no more effort than he had used to do a Great Fireball Technique, he was able to project a lance of intense fire up to 15 meters in the blink of an eye, and maneuver it as fast as he could move his head, at least for a half-second or so. It was faster to reach its target and harder to evade, and at least three times as hot and difficult to just shrug off or otherwise handle than anything else he knew how to do. It also didn't obscure the target, letting him stay on track with whatever they were doing._

_She had also given him training with the chakra wire he had received in Sora-ku. Now he could, clumsily, make shuriken or senbon needles change course after he had thrown them. He could also have the wire flame up with his Fire-aspected chakra. That meant that he could form cages of fire to hold things in place for further treatment. He was sure he'd be able to figure out other uses for the stuff soon. It was just right now he had to concentrate on getting himself ready for a very specific set of combats, and couldn't afford the time to really explore the possibilities._

_As a break from the grueling physical and chakra training he did each day, Sensei had been giving him lessons in, of all things, accounting. As a wealthy young bachelor (he was pretty directly the heir of almost all of the Uchiha that had been killed on __that__ night) she felt he should know exactly what was his, and be able to keep decent track of it. He agreed, but it was enough for him to start to see the reason why Naruto had been so whiney back in the Academy when the less obvious aspects of ninja knowledge were being gone over. But he was willing to at least go along with Sensei, and she was, after all, correct when she said that as a Clan Head he would either have to know how to handle the Clan-specific finances, or else develop a sense of humor that didn't mind people getting the better of him in deals. As Sasuke knew himself too well for that to be likely, he studied accounting._

_At least he knew that he would soon get some revenge; if Naruto was really trying to get to be Kage, he would have to start doing the same. _

Naruto was practicing his dexterity as he watched Sakura and Hinata discuss exactly which chakra tenketsu points were most activated by genjutsu. He was working his way through shuffles, false shuffles, negating shuffles, drops, palming and all the other card sharking and close magic tricks Sensei had given him to work on. He had to admit it was giving him back his coordination and the speed in his damaged arm and hand faster than he had expected. The arm itself still looked weak and puny next to his left one, but at least he didn't feel awkward having it out of its bandages, and he wasn't getting any more pitying glances any more.

Sasuke came over, temporarily winded and exhausted with practicing Underground Movement Technique, something new that Sensei had shown him that he thought would be easy to mesh with his Grave Digger or chakra wire-related skills. He flopped down next to Naruto, in the shade of a tree, and pulled a soft covered book out of his pack and began reading.

"Sensei has you doing finance too, eh?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke was disappointed he couldn't score one over his teammate, but he had to ask.

"How are you handling it?"

"I've got three clones going over that stuff every day, and I still ain't sure I really have a handle on it. But she says 'look at Sunagakure, that place is running down 'cause of financial management, do you want that to be what people remember about your time as Hokage?' So I keep on plugging away at it. At least it doesn't use much chakra, lets me use what's coming back for more important things. Let's drift over to someplace more secluded. Not that I don't trust Hinata-san, but…"

With that he started ambling off toward a clump of bushes and shrubs, not looking back, but certain that Sasuke couldn't resist finding out what was going on. As Sasuke caught up with him he continued an earlier topic.

"From what I see, Suna's being screwed by a lot of things, and their Kazekage's being bad with numbers is only one of them. First of all the Daimyo of Wind cut off their subsidy at the knees. And that's bigger stuff for them than it would be for us 'cause we can get more missions, being nearer to places civilians can get to. That three day voyage through a desert is great as a defensive measure, and they really can become the 'Village Hidden in the Sand' with their specialized jutsus, but it must play hell on business opportunities.

"Anyway, the Old Man has been doing things like getting part ownerships in businesses, like the Great Wave Bridge toll thing. There are other things, here and there, so we've got a cushion. But it also means the 'Village Hidden in the Leaves' isn't all that hidden compared to Suna or Iwa. But that's the breaks, I guess.

"This is what I want to show you," Naruto said as they got out of the sight of the others in the training field. He reached into a pocket of his overalls (he still used an orange jumpsuit for exercise, partially to annoy his Sensei and teammates) and pulled out a short dart. It was thicker than a senbon needle and a little shorter than one of the needles that Sakura had been using for her Quick Needle equipment. Sasuke could see inscribed on it a highly stylized series of pictures; as he turned them around to catch the light he recognized the characters as being similar to those on a an explosive tag. He gingerly handed the thing back to Naruto.

"Hey, Sasuke, no worries. I made it so's it won't release without being accelerated to at least throwing speed. Got as much power as about three regular tags. The big problem is that working in metal and all, and at my current chakra level, I can only make one a day or so right now. Got some ones that are just steel, same weight of course, that she can use for practice and all. What do you think?"

When Naruto took some plain metal ones from another pocket Sasuke selected one, made sure it was unmarked, and flipped it into a nearby clump of earth. It dug in its entire length.

Sasuke grinned, "Yesss. Something like this should give her forty, fifty meters reach at least. We've got each range zone double-covered by experts now, if we count your Shadow Clones as being equal to a long range attack.

"That idea you had about Hinata training us to trash her cousin is working alright also. I've been studying regular pressure point attacks, and with my speed and the Sharingan I think I could get some fun paralysis attacks in on him, with a little luck. That'd have the damn Hyugas wondering if their 'special eyes' are all that special after all. Arrogant bastards."

"Hey, "Naruto replied, "you have'ta admit that Hinata is nice enough, and if you find someone in the Branch House out shopping or something they usually ain't worse than anyone else. It's just some of the older ones that set the tone of stick up the assery people think of when Hyugas come to mind."

"People used to be a bit pissed at how the Uchiha acted, too. When there were Uchiha." Sasuke took a deep breath, he was about to drop his line, baited just so, but without a hook. That wouldn't be how he wanted things to go.

"When That Man stuck me in his genjutsu… besides all the pain, and seeing Mother and Father killed over and over again, he told me about some of the Family secret lore. Seems that there is a hidden cache of stuff He wanted me to look out, buried in the compound. I was wondering, just for laughs, if maybe you and I should look it up. Like our last stab at childhood, a treasure hunt or something? If you aren't busy or anything."

"Hell yeah," Naruto said. "But why not Sakura too? Believe me, in the long run she'll find out about it if anything important is found, and she will be pissed and a half at being left out."

Sasuke couldn't help blushing a bit, as he stammered out, "I just thought, she might think…. If it's a waste of time she'll laugh at us, and…"

Under Naruto's gaze Sasuke shut up, and really thought. His main reasons for excluding her, he realized, had been based on a knot of fears. Fear that she would think the whole thing silly being the least of them. Fear that something would go wrong, and they would be caught up in another high level illusionary hell. Fear that everything he was uncertain about in the origins of the Uchiha Massacre would be confirmed and she wouldn't be able to handle it. Fear that his fragile new family would be broken by the truth or lies he would find there.

But Naruto was right, and a ninja who wouldn't risk much to gain all would never be great. And Sasuke knew that he would have to become great to fulfill his dreams.

"I guess you're right, Naruto. I'll ask her to come over after dinner tonight, and we'll give it a try."

_Three genin stood in the dusk, outside the gate in front of the Naka Shrine. It was tucked out of the way toward the left rear of the Uchiha Compound, now with the grounds outside shaggy with neglect and with numerous broken limbs from trees damaged by storms strewn around. Up on the roof there were several small sprouting trees, born from seeds that had been windblown to land on the decomposing mulch of uncleared leaves and other organic debris. And then there were six genin._

_Naruto gave each of his clones a lit lantern and gave them their marching orders: into the temple, go to the seventh tatami mat, lift it, and open the trap door. Then carefully get down into the hidden room below, and after examination one would dispel itself so Naruto, at a safe distance, would get an idea of what was down there. And if there were traps, the resulting explosion (or whatever) would let them know what not to do with the next exploration team._

_As they waited Naruto tried to make some conversation:_

"_Met the oddest guy the other day, down at the _**Yellow Springs Baths**_, you know, the new place. I was in the women's section-"_

_At which point Sakura punched his (good) arm_, _muttering, "Pervert!"_

"_-in the interests of improving my fem disguise in an environment that would have a lot of critical eyes. Worked too, but you're right Sakura-chan, won't be doing it in the future, now that I know I can._

"_Anyways, I got this 'I'm being watched' feeling. Which starts to worry me, 'cause if it get nervous enough to drop the henge, I probably ain't getting out alive; there musta been twenty other women in the pool or getting ready to get in. Then I notice a little pile of sawdust on the exterior bamboo wall; the lady's pool there is half in and half outdoors, ya see. I look up and there's this eye looking through the hole someone just drilled._

"_So I smile, and get out of the water and grab a towel, hang it over my arm, and wander over near there. I turn to make sure that none of the ladies were looking in my direction, then I do a bit of the Bimbo Combination: Sexy, Lust, and Dumb enough to fast talk into trouble."_

_Naruto gave a little twitch right then. "They're in, and down about three meters. One large room, with eight wall sconces that they're lighting. A couple of chests and some wall plaques, some rugs and mats. It's about half the size of the temple ground floor, under the rear part. I don't know why there is still useable oil in the wall lights; it should have dried up by now._

"_So, as I was saying, I set it up so that only the owner of the eyeball got a full dose of Bimbo, otherwise it woulda become a scandal too big to suppress, and I'd be in the hospital right now being treated for mental trauma._

"_Now the wall with the hole in it was made of bamboo at least a thick as my leg, but in about five seconds it starts to tilt in, and suddenly there's this guy with white hair lying face down on top of the shattered and uprooted remains of what was once a stout fence and protector of feminine modesty. His pants are about half-way down too; remember that, it's important. Now, add about five seconds of silence, then he lifts his head up, gives a little grin and says, 'hello, ladies.'_

"_I screech, wrap the towel around myself and get out of the way as a wave of berserk women and girls, ages eight to eighty, come like a tidal wave up out of the pool and grab every possible hard object as a tool to show their displeasure at have'n their quiet afternoon bath disturbed._

"_He leaps to his feet, with surprising agility and speed for an old fart, and would have made a ninja-quick getaway except-"_

"_For the way his trousers fell down around his ankles and tripped him," Sasuke said._

_Naruto nodded. "Good to know you were paying attention. Yes, he hit the ground, saw that he wasn't going to get going to get away, and curled up in a ball. Took his beating like a man. A totally sick and perverted man, but a man none-the-less. Never took a swing or nothin' at the ladies. I respected him for that as I snuck out and got dressed, and left the place. _

"_Some of the chests down there have locks with seals on them. I think they'll need some Uchiha blood to open. Don't know if there are any passwords. Sasuke, give me your hand please."_

_As he pulled out one of his kunai, Sasuke exposed the palm of his left hand, offering the necessary sacrifice. In a moment three new Shadow Clones ran off with blood on their hands to join the one still present down in the hidden basement._

"_Anyway, Sakura-chan, the guy is way tall, long white hair, has a head-protector with horns and the word 'oil' on it. If you see someone like that in a place you're going to try on clothes or anything, just be careful, right?_

"_Yeah, it needed blood. The chests have scrolls in them; some of them look like storage, and some gold and silver money. The plaques on the wall, Sasuke, each time the clone tries to read them, they come out gibberish. Different gibberish each time. This bein' a Uchiha shrine…"_

"_I see what you mean, Naruto. Time to visit my ancestors."_

"_Don't say that!" Sakura burst out. "Don't even joke about that."_

_The three genin went up the path into the shrine in single file, three paces between each of them, looking for trap triggers, cunning pitfalls, or anything else that might be out of place in a quiet little family shrine._

For a secret underground shelter (and probably headquarters of some sort), the place was surprisingly clean and dust free; even the air was barely musty. With the three lanterns, and the eight wall sconces lit there was no trouble seeing that besides what Naruto had reported there were some large stoppered jugs, and several unopened crates of standard Konoha emergency field rations. And up on the walls there were nine large wall plaques, with vermillion-colored writing on them. Each time one of the genin tried to read one of them the characters were just unrecognizable. Each time the same genin tried a second time they were unrecognizable in a different fashion. After several minutes of this Naruto wandered off, and commandeered his clones in an effort to see if they could find any secret exits from the secret refuge. Sasuke kept on trying to make sense of the writing on the wall, while Sakura had started to look at nothing in particular and was gently biting her lower lip. After a few moments she snapped her fingers in an unladylike manner, and moved over next to Sasuke.

"Try using the Sharingan."

The boy gave a start; he had been too focused on the problem in front of him to notice her movement, and his subconscious had put her in the 'no threat' category. He nodded, and in an instant his eyes were red, with a comma-like mark in the upper outside quadrant of the pupil. He gave a small grunt.

"And, of course, you nailed it down, Sakura. There is still a layer of shifting, though. Interesting stuff that I can read though… could you take it down while I read it? We can work it over later, without the chakra strain, and together."

He waited a minute to let her take out a pad and pencil, and then began to read to her some of the deepest secrets of Uchiha Clan, things that only the Clan Head could reveal to an outsider without it being called familial treason. It was lucky he was Clan Head.

By the time he was through with the first five hangings Naruto had dismissed his clones and come back, unsuccessful in his search, to see what had been discovered. He was disturbed by the strange look first Sakura, and then Sasuke gave him.

"Ok, what did I do? You don't look like that at me unless I just did something spectacular-stupid."

Sakura tried to get something out in explanation, but couldn't find the exact words she needed. Sasuke managed, while putting a wide and psychotic smile on his face.

"This is the center, the heart of the Uchiha Clan. Here is where all the true and innermost secrets of that fabled family are hidden. And there has never been a more vile and vicious bunch of sadistic bastards walking on the face of the World than them. Present company… I don't really know.

"The Smart One of Team Seven figured out I needed to use the Sharingan to read the Uchiha secret lore; I'd have been stumped trying to figure that out for who knows how long by myself. And along with the modest claims that we are the true and first born descendents of the Sage of the Six Paths, there are a few simple tips to becoming a better Uchiha. It makes me better understand how my insane brother turned out the way he did.

"The writing style is old, as old as some of the stuff we saw in Sora-ku, and it mentions that my Sharingan is only the first step in perfecting the great power of the Uchiha; there are higher levels, leading to something called the Mangekyo Sharingan which makes you a god among ninja when you get it down right. And to get it all you have to do, is kill your best friend, or something trivial like that."

Without hesitation, Naruto interrupted him. "Sasuke, I've hated you from the minute I first saw you; maybe loathed you is a better way to put it. You get all the girls to chase you, and you don't even care. You have many annoying habits, and you smell funny too. I just want you to know this for the future. I hope it won't interfere with the smooth working of our team, though."

Sasuke's chest convulsed in silent laughter, and he turned toward Sakura. "You get your chance at self-preservation now, Sakura-chan."

But she was back into her abstracted trance of deep thought. After a moment Sasuke dragged Naruto away before he could say anything and disturb her train of thought. A small grin began to play around the corners of Naruto's mouth. Both because if Sakura had managed to grab hold of a logic trail they might have a chance of getting Sasuke's heritage without driving him over the edge, and also because the boy had finally let slip out how he had begun to think about his pink-haired teammate. Naruto wasn't joyful about the probability of never getting anywhere romantically with Sakura, but if he was going to lose her to someone, it was a lot better that it to be someone who actually cared about her.

There was a small smack as the girl pounded a fist into her palm. She hurried over to the two boys and forcefully grabbed Sasuke by the arms and barked at him: "Remember how you felt when you saw Naruto get bitten in the Forest and scream. Remember it as hard as you can, and look at the wall plaque!"

Sasuke looked up at the red lettering of the fifth plaque with his normal Sharingan. It was like looking at a pond, with plants growing up out of the surface, but with some undulations and sudden ripples indicating there was something unseen still lying out of sight. Then he turned and looked at Naruto, and fixed his mind on the unbreakable, broken. He concentrated on that image and looked back at the wall, and for an instant the hidden writing hidden in the hidden writing was clear. He tried to read as much of it as he could, as he felt his chakra flowing out of him like water from a broken pot. He read… enough… as he snapped his eyes back into the type of sight that ordinary humans used without thinking or pain. Looking at his face Sakura's hand dived toward the first aid pouch at her waist. He wondered why, until he felt the blood flowing from the corners of his eyes reach his chin and fall, drop by drop. As he felt a terrible weakness his knees gave way, and Naruto caught him before he hit the ground.

Laying on the ground, braced against a wall he felt the dampened bandage gently wiping away the blood on his face, he managed to push out a few words before he took a forced nap. "Not ready yet; too weak. But I have it now…"

"I didn't mean to…" Sakura said to no one in particular. Naruto responded.

"Don't knock yourself out, Sakura-chan. You know it comes with the business. Anyway, now we know he won't get all angsty about either not being ready to go all out for improvement, or having to be a friendicide. Or girlfriendicide. Right?"

Sakura blushed. She had caught the "Sakura-chan" Sasuke had used earlier, also.

"Naruto, do you think he and Tamaki…?"

"No idea. Would it really matter?"

Sakura shook her head slightly, then knelt and stroked the unconscious boy's forehead. The bleeding had stopped, and his breath came in a normal rhythm.

"I'm sorry Naruto. But-"

"Hey, don't sweat it. There's this fancy word for enjoying when your friends are miserable. I don't know it, don't need it. Really prefer to just see them livin' happy."

Those words nearly broke her heart.

_Nara Shikamaru wiped the sweat off of his face. His breathing was a little deep, but steady and controlled. He was in disgustingly good condition, the best in his life. Being due to meet the mad killer Gaara in his first fight in the Chunin Exam Finals had proved a sufficiently sharp spur to stir him into going at his training with more seriousness than he had ever wanted to before. Short of a peremptory forfeit he would have to be able to run, dodge, and push out his chakra reserves like he had never done so before if he wished to avoid the fate he had seen overtake Inuzuka Kiba._

_If he didn't fight with real dedication… not just a flashy show before resigning from the competition… Choji would never accept why Shikamaru had put so much effort into defeating him in the bout of the second round of the preliminary eliminations. Shikamaru didn't want to have to confess to his best and oldest friend that it was to save his life._

_Otherwise, there was too good a chance that Choji would have ended up fighting against Gaara. And Choji being Choji he'd have fought as hard as he could, and accepted whatever risks were needed to try for a victory. And against Gaara, failing and being killed._

_Sure, if Choji had fought against Sasuke, Sakura, or probably any of the other Konoha applicants for promotion, he would still have survived a defeat if it had occurred. But Shikamaru had seen the Suna monster; not just his power but his sheer, insane, bloodlust. A straight-up fighter like Choji would have no chance against someone like that. Only someone with a mind able to make and modify strategies on a second by second basis would have a hope of surviving, much less winning. Not that he had actually figured out what to do against the sand-armor of the killer. Would the invincible defense classify a mere shadow as a threat…?_

_To cheer himself up, Shikamaru thought about Ino. About her constant going over her dinner with the Uchiha, analyzing and reanalyzing it. It was as if she hadn't been on a mission with him not two months ago, and discovered that being with Naruto and Sakura had started to turn the pre-psychopathic aristocrat into a fair imitation of a normally cranky and sullen teenager. Though to be honest, Shikamaru admitted that at least part of the sullen and cranky label was due to his personal dislike of the boy from when they were both in school together. _

_It was also amusing, in a certain way of looking at it, that the deeply socially sophisticated and enthusiastically romantic Ino was still so obsessed with a boy who was proving to be nothing like her expectations or fears, and missing the boy who had been crushing on her for years, and was currently carrying a fairly bright torch. It wasn't even as if Sasuke was trying to crowd Choji out of the romantic picture with Ino; she just didn't see him. Maybe they had been around each other too much as kids. He was just part of the accepted background of her life, and not someone to actually pay attention to._

_Shikamaru laughed at himself a bit also, playing cupid. While Choji had been back in the hospital, and they were in over their heads (and still succeeding) in Wave, Shikamaru had looked out for her as much as he could, the way he thought his 'husky' friend would have if he'd have been able to be there. _

_Well, he'd taken enough of a break. It was time to put in another five kilometers run, then the advanced obstacle course, and then chakra building exercises until dinner. Then over to the Akimichi place and help get his friend back into shape. These days Mother wasn't nagging him about how much time he spent slacking off. In fact, she had asked him if he didn't want an afternoon nap the other day, and was disturbed when he said he just didn't have time for it right then. Simple pleasures, like the look on her face at that moment, helped sustain Shikamaru as he set off at a brisk pace. _


	12. Chapter 11

I do not own, or receive any benefit from the Naruto properties.

A Teacher's Glory: a Union of Rejects: Chapter 11

By Larry Huss

Naruto wasn't surprised to have received an order to attend the Hokage in his office. He knew from the wording that he was to be on his best ninja manners; when the Old Man wanted to play at being Grandpa Hokage he would suggest they meet for a walk and a luncheon. There had been fewer and fewer of those kinds of summons lately, but the boy still treasured them.

But this was very evidently an official thing, and Naruto was keeping himself tightly behind his newly acquired mask of adulthood and detachment as he entered the office. As was proper; there was the Hokage, seated behind his desk, with his robes and Hat of State on. Somewhere nearby, invisible to most, were the ANBU bodyguards. Leaning against the wall next to a window was a very tall middle-aged man with spiky white hair, oddly cut robes, and a strange metal head protector with horns on it (with the kanji for 'oil' written boldly), and thankfully this time, his pants fully in place for polite company. Naruto didn't give even a twitch of recognition; he bowed deeply in greeting to his lord, and nodded politely to the (visible) stranger in the room. "I am here at your command, Hokage!"

In a voice of genial authority Sarutobi responded: "And promptly, too. Mitarashi has been training you in conduct also, I see. The man behind me is an old pupil of mine, Jiraiya. I have decided that he should give our large crop of promising genin an evaluation, prior to the Chunin Examinations Final. There will probably be Team reassignments, as some are passed and others stay in their present ranks, and I value his judgment on how best to do the remedial organizational adjustments. It will, of course, be necessary for him to see not only the files on our aspiring genin, but also conduct hands-on evaluations of their talents himself. I have picked you to be his first subject, as both or your teammates have a chance of being promoted this time around, and your team is therefore very vulnerable to being broken up."

The boy was silent for a few seconds, then responded. "Jiraiya-sensei, I would be honored for you to examine my skills and talents, and would take any recommendations you make with the utmost seriousness and regard.

"As a side note, I should inform you that I have heard of a man, matching your general description, who has been alleged to have been in an incident doing damage to one of the hot springs bathing establishments in town. I would advise that you work to clear up that misunderstanding, and even have such an imposter apprehended, lest it cause you difficulties while evaluating any of our talented kunoichi. By talented I mean, of course, deadly."

The man straightened up, took a pose that an actor doing an important announcement might make, and responded.

"There is no imposter; none would dare! That was me; Jiraiya the Gallant Toad Sage, Konoha's greatest author, and the Super-Pervert of the Land of Fire! The Sannin, and honored student of the God of Ninjas himself!"

The Hokage shrugged, modestly.

"I, Jiraiya, have joyfully endured the righteous fists and kicks of the beautiful and virtuous fair maidens of Konohagakure in my pursuit of truth to propel my art!"

"The path of wisdom is often over thorny ground," Naruto offered.

"I see that you understand what's going on, kid," the Sannin replied as he grinned. "Tell you what, if I see a hole in your education or techniques, maybe I'll give you some hints on how to fix them up. You remind me of a student I once had; nice kid, I wonder what ever happened to him, sometimes." His eyes flicked for an instant to the Hokage.

"So's how about you and I go out to someplace quiet, and you show me what you can do. And yeah, I know about your little passenger, so don't worry about that secret coming out. I also know a little about seals; so do you mind if I take a look at yours?"

Naruto looked at the Hokage, who gave a friendly nod.

"I would be honored, Jiraiya-sensei. I am totally at your convenience."

Seeing the tall man stride out of the door, Naruto made a deep bow to his Kage, and turned and followed the self-styled 'Super-Pervert.' When they were down at the entrance to the Hokage's Tower Naruto stopped, and made three clones, gave them a nod, and sent them off on their errands. At Jiraiya's inquiring glance, Naruto sighed and gave his usual explanation when someone first saw him doing things like that.

"Yes, I know. Most Jonin-level ninja are lucky to be able to push out three or four Shadow Clones at a time without falling over with chakra exhaustion. I generally have that many just going around town doing things for me. And no, it's not something I can do because of my guest, it's just plain me. I wanted to let my teammates know that I wouldn't be meeting up with them for training or anything today. I figure that after you're done with me I'll be lucky not to be in the hospital, after all!

"I mean… Jiraiya the Sannin! How many people get a chance for someone of that fame to tell them how bad they are? You're like something out of history come to life. You have to tell me how you turned out so great!"

Jiraiya waved his hand, and stopped talking like either a 'Super-Pervert' or a Sannin, but just as a friendly man. "Natural talent, kid. Natural talent. And working at it sixteen hours a day for years didn't hurt any, either."

_Gods and Demons, he was so much like Minato at that age! Certainly a little quieter, at least in public, but that smile, those chakra reserves! He'd even been able to understand his new Sensei's little… peculiarities… that would have sent most kids his age into one sort of shock or another. Hey, maybe he knew the name of that incredible blond back at the hot baths that had been the immediate cause of the little… incident?_

_It was only when they had reached the deserted training area and started their evaluatory testing that Jiraiya began to start to get worried. The kid was good, allowing for his still imperfectly healed arm; a likely Chunin Exam finalist, but there was nothing… special about his skills or abilities. There was nothing of the spark that Minato had shown, even at the start._

"_Not terrible, but really, is that all you got? I'd have expected Oro-chan's student to have shown you a bit more. Looks like she really was a disappointment to him."_

_That was when the boy stopped dead for a moment, the bruise on his cheek from the last exchange not doing its normal almost instantaneous fading. He hunched over, just slightly, and his eyes took on a small squint._

"_I haven't gotten to what Anko-sensei has been working on us with, yet."_

_Jiraiya had to admit the sudden flurry of flash and smoke tags, mixed with one hellacious explosive one, that followed were impressive in both numbers and strength. The way the boy came out of the least likely quadrant of the area that had been obscured indicated tactics had been one of the things 'Anko-sensei' certainly __had__ been covering. That the first two Naruto's that had attacked had been mere diversionary clones was right out of Orochimaru's playbook, though the way the third body in range had been the boy himself indicated that his teammate hadn't been followed in all regards. Jiraiya had no hesitation in knocking the boy right back through the still existing smokescreen with a hard kick smashing into his torso. Naruto had proven that he could take a bit of damage. Avoiding anything hidden in the smokescreen by leaping over it, Jiraiya spotted the prone but moving form of the boy just past a goodly sized crater. It was time to end this, and probably give the boy an apology for disparaging his regular sensei; she had been teaching them excellent tactics, and to be fair Jiraiya knew that she had also shown the kid how to make some exceptionally good offensive chakra tags._

_As he bent over the kid to give him a disabling nerve pinch prior to lifting him up by his ear, it was only his still finely-tuned perceptions and reflexes that managed to let him turn to face Naruto as the boy surged out of the crater he had created for that purpose, and attacked with the kodachi he had finally drawn. Something still didn't add up though, so Jiraiya began a quick pivot and arm swing that blocked the stab coming at him from what had been his rear a second ago._

_When the blade was knocked aside, Naruto took a step back and thrust. It was well enough done, for something he hadn't had time to properly set himself up for, but Jiraiya could see the 50 cm blade wouldn't be able to reach quite far enough to wound. Until, with the tip shining a good finger's length short of the palm ready to do the next slapping block, Jiraiya saw the back of his hand suddenly bloom with blood, and felt an instant afterwards the familiar pain of an in-and-out wound through his hand. Followed shortly by the feeling of a Shadow Clone kunai, wielded by a Shadow Clone Naruto, cutting into his left calf. Lashing back with a wooden clog Jiraiya dispersed the clone by reflex, and then he spent the next few moments showing Naruto that a few cheap tricks (or even some very good ones, well performed) weren't enough to put down a Sannin. The boy was game to the end, though, and avoiding the of use of lethal force meant Jiraiya had to take more time than he would have originally estimated to bash him into unconsciousness. _

_Yes, Sarutobi-sensei had been right; Naruto was ready for advanced training. Depending on how much of what he had shown was due to Mitarashi's work it might be worthwhile to give her a looking at also; one of the things Jiraiya had never been completely happy about was the way that after leaving a genin team each ninja had to sort of scrounge for themselves any extra or advance training. _

Naruto was very proud inside, when he became conscious. He had managed to give a decent fight to one of the Sannin themselves, and still held off from using either Chakra Flood or Triple Oni on the guy. Not that he would have been likely to actually have landed a hit with them, and Triple Oni was still really in the experimental stages. If he had used Sexy, or especially Bimbo, and won, it wouldn't have been fair. The guy wasn't even a normally perverted man; he was evidently an addicted unfortunate (after all, sex makes you stupid and deaf, right?). Anyway, losing was more likely to serve Naruto's longer term purposes than winning would have. When the Sannin had said that Naruto had reminded him of an old student of his, there had been a significant glance given; there was something worth discovering there, an old secret. Maybe there was nothing currently useful, but the "an old student of mine" was important coming from Jiraiya; he had trained the Fourth, after all.

_That evening, Hyuga Hinata missed finding Naruto at his usual favorite spot at __**Ramen Ichiraku **__after she was finished for the day working with Uchiha Sasuke. Since a clone messenger had come telling them he would be busy for a day or so she wasn't worried, just a little disappointed. The bandages keeping her nose protected had finally come off that morning, and she almost felt pretty._

_The last week had been very instructional to her, and not just in refining her skills. For example: Sasuke. He was very different from the person she remembered from school, and far more pleasant. She suspected it had been all the unwanted attention from the silly schoolgirls that had made him so grouchy back then. She, herself, was a Sakura partisan in the Sasuke Wars. Tamaki was a decent contender, but her diffidence ('learn a lesson there, Hinata girl,' she thought) held her back. When Ino had visited, the blonde had practically done a parody of a geisha (or even someone of a… lesser profession) in her efforts to get his attention. But Ino wasn't a trained geisha, and Sasuke wasn't a drunk and middle aged man trying to pretend he was a romantic young blade. It really __was__ fun to see other people's romantic tangles. Now if she would only have some of her own to amuse __them__…_

It had taken enough to get a good three men drunk to finally start Jiraiya talking freely, but it was worth it. The man was a natural-born freeloader, but he was also naturally gregrarious and cheerful. The hitting on every woman who couldn't honestly be called outright hideous was a bit much, but it proved that he really was, as he claimed, the 'Gallant Jiraiya' of legend. It was toward the shank of the evening that he finally lost all discretion, and Naruto felt that losing a good night's sleep was finally paid for.

"He was always so damn cheerful, couldn't hold a grudge in a basket… same hair, same eyes, can't believe it… don't worry, he didn't start going after the ladies until he was older either… he had tons of the stuff, wells of chakra, too… everyone thought he was clumsy at first too, so ya come by it… she was always so pretty, even when I first teased her… Oro-chan, you bastard! I still like him, you know, despite everything. He was always so polished. We thought he was joking when he said things. Instead he was using our love to hide in plain sight… she'll never care again, just too wounded… Minato'd be proud of you…" and on, rambling until dawn was breaking, and Naruto steered him into an early opening Inn and paid for a day's stay with money filched from the Sannin's pocket.

As he walked home Naruto looked up at the Hokage Monument, lit by the rising sun. He made a perfect clone of himself and made it stand just a bit off to the side of the sightline to the carved head of the Fourth. 'You remind me of a student I once had.' How good could a rendering of a face with a fifteen meter long nose be, anyway? It was time to catch a little sleep.

_He showed up at the training area Team Seven was using in the early afternoon; knowing how to deal with hangovers was one of the many things he had learned in the years since he had begun wandering on Konoha's, and his own, business. They were all there, plus an addition: Mitarashi, Haruno, the Uchiha, Naruto, and a Hyuga girl. Jiraiya had read the reports on the team, both the sets that were the result of ANBU (and Yakushi's) surveillance, and the ones (far more positive) that Mitarashi had filed about the skills of the genin. From his viewpoint it seemed that the Jonin-sensei had, after all, not been exaggerating her team's basic skills level._

_The Uchiha was doing sword sparring against both his sensei and Naruto, and holding up surprisingly well. When the dark-haired boy suddenly shot out a fifteen meter long spike of flame Naruto was able to dodge it in his turn, and tried to slide in under it for knee-cracking slice. Which the Uchiha evaded by a high tumblesault leap, and at the same time also managed to block the snake-quick thrust from his sensei's blade. But by the time he actually landed Naruto was in position, and had half performed a vicious kick to the groin. Which he left uncompleted, getting from the Uchiha a mumbled comment: "Thank you."_

"_Think nothing of it, I figured you might need 'em someday. Pass it on."_

_Jiraiya looked over where the two girls were, and hurriedly looked away again. The number of layers of genjutsu that were being spun there on a second by second pace was impossible to keep up with. He could have kept himself clear of any illusions spun by practitioners of their experience, of course, but interrupting kunoichi when they were practicing could easily turn out to be a painful business. He had experience of that. In any case, a moment or so later both girls collapsed, giggling._

_Mitarashi had meanwhile approached and introduced herself, and the others there._

"_Joining us today is Hyuga Hinata, who has been kind enough to help us train for the upcoming examinations. She herself would have likely been a contestant if her opponent in the preliminary elimination round had not been one of those most likely to have an advantage against her."_

_The girl, lying half-propped up on her arms and covered with sweat, blushed becomingly, and a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. The pink-haired girl next to her gave her a small, encouraging punch on her shoulder._

"_I understand that you did an evaluation of Uzumaki Naruto yesterday; perhaps while Haruno Sakura and Miss Hyuga rest for a moment or two you might wish to test Uchiha Sasuke. Since Namiashi Raido has been kind enough to give his some tutoring, Sasuke's kenjutsu has, frankly, reached a level that I can match, but not currently surpass. So to give him a really good workout we tend nowadays to do two or three to one on him, otherwise he gets a swelled head."_

_At that point Naruto stuck his tongue out at the Uchiha, who smirked back in return._

_Jiraiya noticed that there was an odd look to the swords that had been being used a few moments ago, and gestured an obvious, but unvoiced question._

"_Jiraiya-sama, during spars, especially so close to the Examination Combat, we have been using wooden blades, loaded with lead inside to a slightly heavier weight than normal, painted silver so that the effect of reflected light will not startle or confuse my students. They are also training with light weights on their limbs for the purpose of increased stamina and speed."_

_Jiraiya looked at the bandage on his still twinging hand. Wooden swords; he would have used dulled metal, but to each their own. At least she wasn't crazy enough to have had her students use sharp steel for daily practice. So, she wasn't taking all of her training tricks from Oro-chan's playbook._

"_I think, in the interests of saving time, so that I can get to see as many of those I'm interested in before the exams, I'll just do my look-see on all of you at once. Hyuga-san included; I'd have to catch up to her later anyway. I've already done Uzumaki, so he should sit out."_

_Jiraiya noticed a lightning quick flash of anger pass over the boy's face, to disappear without a trace. Well, that told him all he needed to know about team loyalty. Naruto then made a strange undulating hand signal. Seeing it, Haruno went over and whispered something into the Hyuga's ear, getting a nod in response. _

"_You stay too, to inspire your troops, Mitarashi-san."_

_The woman looked startled, but complied, going over to stand next to her 'troops.' She caught their eyes, and pointed toward the Uchiha. _

"_Now!" said the Sannin, and watched as the Jonin-sensei summoned a small clutch of snakes, that immediately disappeared into the ankle-length grass. Then all the humans suddenly turned into the form of Uchiha Sasuke, and running crisscrossing paths spread out in a 180 degree arc around him. As soon as they did that, a half-dozen other Sasukes appeared, and the crisscrossing run started again. Jiraiya realized he should have instituted some more stringent ground rules at the start of this little contest. Now that he remembered it, there had been a note that at the preliminary eliminations Team Seven had shown a notable preference for using clones to confuse and bewilder their opponents. Evidently the Hyuga had picked that idiosyncrasy up herself. _

_Then he had to start dodging and blocking missile weapons, snakes trying to poison him at the ankle level, and assorted quick in-and-out attacks from wherever his blindside was at any instant. He handled it all, of course, and had started to get an idea of which 'Sasuke' was which 'not-Sasuke,' especially as he was dissipating the clones as almost as fast as they were being made. Then, at a shouted word, everyone became Mitarashi, and he had to start doing the separation all over again. 'Note to self: either specify no disguises if evaluating groups, or just don't be lazy and test the subjects one at a time.'_

_It had taken a little time, but the Sannin had managed to isolate the real Mitarashi, and using speed he hadn't had to use in a decade, managed to knock her out of the battle. The one who should be the Uchiha was limping by then, but giving himself away by superior sword-work in defense. The two girls were harder to sort out; they had uncanny ability to flow around each other and cover each other's attacks and retreats. Evidently Team Seven was so good at teamwork that they could integrate a new member into their movement patterns in a matter of a week or two. But there was only so much that the genin, now no longer supported by their Jonin-sensei, could do._

_He managed to just clip one of the female Mitarashis, and sent her sprawling to the ground on her back. Her disguising henge flickered for a second, than faltered and faded completely. Revealing Her, the blond goddess of the Baths, in all of her naked and hygienically shaved glory. While Jiraiya was pondering this important discovery, a sudden flash of movement distracted him from his vital research. He was almost quick enough to block the sudden flurry of lightning fast touches that closed off all the tenketsu points in his arms, and then stopped his diaphragm. Within the next ten seconds he collapsed, not even taking any satisfaction at the kick that drove his attacker back in a crumpled heap ten meters away._

_When he came to Jiraiya looked around at the now varied assortment of faces and forms. Nearby and facing him were Mitarashi, the Uchiha and Naruto. Some distance away, and facing away from the rest, were Haruno and the Hyuga; the later topless, and having her upper torso bandaged. First things first, he decided._

"_Now I want to get this completely clear. Hinata-san, you were the Hyuga who __lost__ the preliminary bout, right?"_

_If a person is fair-skinned enough, it is completely possible for their entire back to blush._

Nara Shikamaru was standing in front of the Hokage, wishing that he was still young enough to break down crying. It was bad enough that he was fighting Gaara of the Sands as his first (and undoubtedly, only) opponent. Of course, things being what they were, another layer of grief was being laid down upon his substrate of terror.

In his most official voice, the Hokage was giving the genin some final instructions: "As we are the closest of allies with Suna, and your opponent is, after all, the youngest child of the Kazekage, it would be very injudicious of you to use new, unexpected and exceptionally violent methods in fighting him. For the good of our diplomatic posture the Kazekage's family must not suffer great injuries at the hands of a Konoha ninja."

"Kage, Uchiha Sasuke knocked the girl from Suna around pretty bad, right there at the end of his fight with her. It wouldn't play well-"

"Shikamaru! You know very well that Sasuke-kun gave a series of love-taps compared to what his abilities are; nothing more than what a kunoichi might expect in a training session. And if I'd had time to brief him properly he'd have been even more circumspect; I understand his diversionary tactics have caused her to develop a decided antipathy to us as it is. Though, to be fair, you just can't please all people.

"After all, you managed to deal with the middle brother without too much fuss, didn't you? A bright boy like you should discover a method of dealing with younger one's… eccentricities… without having to resort to extreme tactics or equipment. Of course, I am sure you also realize that the exhibition must provide some exciting combat; the very idea that the son of Nara Shikaku would cravenly forfeit or dodge his responsibilities is unthinkable. If it appears that the ninja of Konohagakure are not ready to go the final measure in their pursuit of victory, it could be very bad for our reputation among the many potential clients who will be in the stands, cheering for the eventual victors."

For someone of almost legendary laziness, Shikamaru showed surprising energy and persistence in his protests. "Sir, it won't look good for a Konoha ninja to get crushed into a bloody pulp in the first twenty seconds either; it'll make us look like we're weak and not worth hiring. Surely I can at least go all out, with whatever I've got; he will. I saw what he did to Kiba!"

"Alas, duty is heavier than a mountain. You will, of course, not reveal anything, except the name of your opponent, of that which has been said in this office to anyone, even family. And that is a direct order from your Hokage.

"They'd be able to figure out who you will be fighting anyway, by the process of elimination," Sarutobi explained gently.

Shikamaru stood silently. A ninja isn't supposed to break down and cry, a genin can't scream in rage at his Kage; what else could he do? At the dismissing gesture he left the office, looking neither left nor right. All the way down to the entrance to the Hokage's Tower was like he was walking in a tunnel that only led down to Hell, with no turnoffs or ways of escape. In the street outside he avoided running into people without really noticing that they were there at all, and kept on going until he was away from the more built up areas and among the trees that separated each of the training areas from each other.

The day was fine, the air still warm, as autumn hadn't had a chance to really set in yet. There were nice clouds crossing the sky quickly, blown by faster winds up high. He didn't want anyone to disturb him for lying around purposelessly on the ground, looking up at the sky, so he began to climb a still-leafy tree to get out of their line of sight. He found that he somehow couldn't organize his chakra enough to just walk up the trunk, and scrambled up from bough to bough like a little kid. Once high up he found a limb with a view through the tree's canopy, and leaned back against the trunk, and let his empty mind be filled with the calm serenity of the sky.

_As the boy left the office, in an unmistakable daze, Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled on the inside. Shikamaru was far too intelligent to think he had any sort of a chance against Gaara of Suna. He'd try to work out a dozen strategies, and find that each of them came up short. It might take him a week, but in the end… he'd just resign the moment he set foot in the Arena. And having resigned he would be denied promotion, just like his teammates, who were ineligible due to having not gotten into the Finals. Sarutobi would then be able to keep them together as a genin team for at least another cycle of the Chunin Exams, and vastly improve the chances that the next time they applied (the likelihood of another Gaara being entered, or an Orochimaru interfering, being slight) they might well be promoted together. Then, the powerful Ino-Shika-Cho team name would be carried on for another generation, striking fear in Konoha's enemies._

There was still light shining on the upper leaves of the taller trees, with their bases already deep in dusk, when Uzumaki Naruto sat down on the same branch as Nara Shikamaru and nodded, looking like he wanted to talk. Shikamaru didn't respond. Naruto sighed, dramatically. It was going to be one of those conversations. It was lucky for him that he had taken an advanced degree in verbal fishing and inarticulate decoding under that master problem, Uchiha Sasuke.

He pondered his options, deciding on an historical lead-in as the best approach.

"You left the Hokage Tower hours ago, looking like someone you really knew well had just been killed. Face white, not even grunting at people who knew you and said hello, the whole thing. You decided to hide vertically, skipped going home or even going to visit Choji. What's up?"

Shikamaru opened his mouth, and then stopped. There were too many things to say, too many things he couldn't say, and his mind for the first time he could remember just wouldn't do anything. His face gave a twitch, and he tilted it back and looked up through the leaves to where the Moon was rising over the Hokage Monument.

"That bad, huh? Tell old Doctor Uzumaki what the problem is... "

The silence grew long.

"Damn it, Shikamaru! Maybe I can't help you, but maybe I can. At least you can cry on my shoulder. I know your mother and father are OK. Choji and Ino are wondering where you are; what the hell is wrong?"

Shikamaru slid off of the branch, landing heavily ten meters below. He was walking away by the time Naruto had realized what was happening and had leaped down and caught up to him.

Over the hours alone he had at least gotten back a smattering of his chakra control, he used his family's signature jutsu, turned toward Naruto, and snared him in a shadow hidden in the night. Then he began to walk backwards, away from the other boy, who mimicked his movements for a moment. Then he stopped. Shikamaru took another unmatched step then shrugged and let the jutsu lapse. Of course. Naruto was insanely charka-strong; he'd shown that in Wave. No matter how much Shikamaru had trained and improved he just didn't have the sheer power to overwhelm people like that. It didn't matter if Gaara's sand defense considered a mere shadow a threat or not, the sheer amount of the stuff that he had been throwing around in the preliminary fight against Kiba had shown he had huge reservoirs of chakra, surely too much for techniques that a genin of six months experience could use. Only one thing to do now.

"Naruto, I'm sorry I did that, it wasn't what a friend should have done. I'm fighting the Suna kid, Gaara, in the Finals, and there is now no way I can survive. I'm just a little disturbed that I've got nine days more to live. I guess I should just go and make up a list of all the things I'm going to never get to do. You know; dating girls, picking up bad habits, seeing Ino get her head out of her ass about Choji. Things like that."

"You could just walk in, and forfeit before this Gaara gets a chance to get to you. I saw him fight; yeah, he's a monster, but Kiba isn't you. You don't have to be the king mutt all the time. You can do that, can't you?"

Shikamaru ground out, "There are… reasons… that I have to 'put on a good show,' it seems… I can't say… "

"Ya' can't win, and you can't fold like a towel. Sounds like you're screwed."

By now both boys were slowly walking in the more developed parts of the town. Shikamaru didn't notice a graceful four legged form that was keeping near them in the dark. Naruto knew about it. After all, it was Hiroshi the ninja-cat that had finally tracked the Nara to his refuge.

"Ya can't win? I thought clans like yours had all sorts of super stuff hidden away for real emergencies. Can't your pop give you a special lesson on something that will be good for a one time shot at it?"

Shikamaru just shook his head. "Things like that take too long to learn for combat use. And they need more power than I have, or will have for years. Which means I need time, which is what I don't have.

"When he got his sand on Kiba, the arena there was small enough for the referee to get there fast and get him to drop dog-boy before he could be totally crushed. The big arena in town… it's not going to happen that way. Besides, I'm sure he's pissed I beat his brother. Not that they seem to get along; but … teammates… brothers on the same team. Hell, if I was on the same team as Sasuke I'd be ticked if someone beat him.

"I'll dodge around as long as I can, and when he finally gets his hands on me, 'goodbye cruel world.' There's no chance to tap out wounded, once he's in contact. He's the sort who goes around muttering 'I'll kill you all!' and meaning it."

Naruto mused on this as they passed a few shops with lit windows. As they were abreast of a coffee/pastry shop he looked in the window, then grabbed Shikamaru's arm.

"We need some caffeine and something for quick energy. Now!"

When he has seated at a counter, with a large mug of heavily sugared coffee and some powdered sugar covered concoction in front of him, Shikamaru realized he was hungry. There was no point in starving to death before he was killed, was there?

Naruto was acting frantic, sipping from the large mug he had ordered, getting seconds and then thirds of various sweet and sticky slices of cake, and twisting his head here and there, and then looking at Shikamaru's face intently for several minutes.

"If you were injured, you think you could throw in the towel and get away with it?"

"Maybe, but with Gaara… you saw it. Wounding and killing are going to be real close together. I've thought about it, and he's not going to stop, even if the ref does manage to get out a decision to end the bout. "

"So, we don't let him be the one to hurt ya'"

"Naruto, I always knew you were my friend. But by now I've got the feeling that the only way I could get out of the fight would be if some little 'training exercise' actually took a leg off. I don't think anything less will do. It's a nice offer, but don't get yourself burned, trying to help me."

The blond laughed.

"Ya' see, this is why you should bring your problems to old Doc Uzumaki. He knows how to make just the right pill to handle your problem."

Shikamaru remembered that Naruto made his own explosive tags, and had been working with other very effective explosive techniques.

"Idiot! I'm not allowed to k…"

A little silence followed.

"So you were at the Hokage Tower where you get the news… and orders?"

Shikamaru slumped down in his seat, defeated.

"Ya' can't say, of course. Don't matter, the Doctor has the answer to your problem. Least I hope I do. You better hope also. And it won't involve anyone getting killed, maybe.

"Shika, what you gotta remember is that we're ninjas, and sneaky is the name of the game. Waiter, can I have a bowl of cream?"

While that order was being brought, Shikamaru's brain began to work again. Naruto, Team Seven, clones, smoke screens, illusions, there was something there, but no path to victory against Gaara that Shikamaru could see.

When it was brought the bowl was put down on the floor, a cat that no one seemed to have noticed coming into the shop sauntered up and began lapping. When the waiter made a motion to shoo the beast away and out of the place, Naruto caught his eye. There was a smile on the boy's face, but he shook his head 'No,' and the waiter desisted. He knew the reputation of the boy as a prankster. While there had never been any trouble when he had been in the coffee house before, it probably wasn't wise to get on the bad side of a pair of ninjas in any case. And the cat wasn't making a nuisance of itself, anyway.

At Shikamaru's glance, Naruto replied, "Always gotta feed the troops." At which the cat looked up and gave a distinct nod.

Finally Shikamaru gave his final conclusion, "I don't see how I can use any deceptions to eke out a victory over Gaara. Not any I can learn in the time I've got left."

"Ya' got it wrong; fooling Gaara isn't your highest priority. It's fooling everybody else. I checked out the Arena a few days ago, and under the conditions you're going to be in, it should be doable."

"_And that's how I got my clock cleaned by a bunch of genin and their decent, but by no means exceptional, Jonin-sensei," Jiraiya said with relish._

_Sarutobi sighed. That last statement was a sign of exactly what prevented his ex-student from ever really being suitable for the office of Hokage. The boy was cursed with too much good humor, passion, and his huge sense of due proportion. He had no proper regard for the dignity of his title, was not nearly touchy enough about how people acted toward him. Being a far-off and slightly terrifying figure that very occasionally unbent enough to be graciously condescending was part of the mystique of, and power of, the office of Hokage. Being kind to children was an acceptable flaw in the Hokage image; it let people believe that there was enough warmth inside the man under the hat that it was worthwhile throwing themselves at his mercy when they were caught by life's mischances (or detected in their own malfeasances). Instead, Jiraiya was either known as an abstract historical anecdote, or as the author of some well-written books of erotica. His great achievements were undervalued by all, and he would never get the proper level of distant respect that would have allowed him to claim unthinking obedience. _

_It was true that his pose as a Super-Pervert wandering around and doing research (alas, all too close to reality!) helped him in his intelligence gathering activities. But he was still the same old under-achiever he had been as a (literally) snot-nosed genin. Orochimaru, his ex-sensei had recently learned, was now the founder of his own Hidden Village. Utterly evil and cruel, it was true. But in its own twisted way, it was heartwarming to see an old student go so far. Even Tsunade had a more poignant reputation. Being called the "Legendary Sucker" at least showed that her flaws, as well as her talents, were of greater than human size, while the whispered stories of her lost family and loves, and her carrying the cursed necklace of the Senju, lent an aura of dignity and tragedy to her. _

"_So, Jiraiya, you __do__ think that Naruto would benefit from being pulled from regular duties and made your student?"_

"_Yeah, Sensei; he's at a critical point right now. Under Mitarashi he'll become a master of… I won't call them junk, but just normal, low powered, techniques. He has the potential to handle mountain-breaking jutsu. With his teammates likely to be promoted, while he won't, it will be a perfect opportunity to split him off for 'tutoring.' He'd be a pain to work with without a good excuse to take his team apart; the kid's got a real bond with the others. Even his Sensei is more his Big Sister to him than a teacher, at least in his mind._

"_And by the way, he might just be a born intuitive seal-master. I checked out his beast-seal. It's working perfectly, but it is definitely not exactly the same as the one Minato had put on him, back then. He swears he hasn't touched it, but it's modified. He must have done it from the __inside__. The Prisoner is still locked up tight, but the kid said he had decided to give the Nine-Tails a window to look out from. So he did."_

_The Hokage snorted, "That is quite impossible, and you should know that!"_

"_I __know__ what I see, and test for. Between what the kid was born with, what he's had to learn how to handle, and what the Nine-Tails has that has to be kept under control, there's more chakra in a small space that anything I've ever heard of, much less seen in person before."_

"_As the Hokage I would know of something of that magnitude and importance. So don't be impertinent, I can still give you a smack on the ear if you're being stupidly stubborn."_

_With his most serious tone Jiraiya answered his Master, "You'd know, because you'd be told by your foremost expert in the field. Which you just have been. That hat doesn't give wisdom; it just keeps the sun out of your eyes. The title lets people know who they should turn to for direction; it doesn't make that person a bit more informed than they were before. At least it doesn't do that if they refuse to listen to those who are their resources for specialized information._

"_I've been warning you that Oro-chan has been messing about in the Land of Rice Fields, and you don't let me pursue it until you find out he's pulling the strings behind this 'Village Hidden in the Sound' farce. __After__ he's gotten his agents in place, and had a kill-team gunning for the last Uchiha in the Exams. I'm your chief field-agent for External Security, and you've been blowing me off on this for the last three years. If you don't like my work, tell me. Put someone else in charge, and let me go bar-hopping full-time!_

"_When is the last time you ever really looked at Naruto's seal? Or had someone else do that? "_

_The impertinence of his former student was irritating the Hokage enough for him to let his carefully held temper slip a little. "You __will__ obey me, and treat me with respect!"_

"_I always do, Sensei. But that doesn't mean I think you're always right."_

"_As I am the Hokage, I __am__ always right."_

_Jiraiya's breaking out in a loud laugh was just another piece of proof that he was unsuitable for the office he was showing disrespect to._

_Still… who else was there capable of dealing with Naruto's potentials, now that Hatake was dead? There were talented ninja: Kurenai, Hyuga Hiashi, Guy. There were brilliant ninja: Nara Shikaku came to mind. But to deal with someone of Naruto's potential Hatake Kakashi would have been the best choice. The connection with his own sensei, Minato, alone would have ensured his diligence and enthusiasm. So, by default, Jiraiya it was going to be. At least being under Anko's training had made all of Team Seven obedient and biddable. _

Sprawled on the sofa, feet up on the coffee table in Yuhi Kurenai's apartment, the paragon of obedience was trying to get a little help on subverting the existing order of Konoha. Swirling crimson imported grape-wine in a crystal goblet, Kurenai was enjoying the opportunity to be with her best friend, while not have herself being teased about her on-and-off relationship with Sarutobi Asuma. Instead, Anko was giving a spirited paranoid rant.

"You can just about trace the rise of Konoha's latest financial mogul to when his grandmother got on the Council. I mean, you remember him back in Academy, right? Snarky, smart, and always looking out for himself, first and foremost. And then there was that 'Medical Discharge' from active ninja service right after Utatane Koharu gets installed as the Special Financial Overseer for Intestacy Funds. Then when the Uchiha mess came up… and we get the **Utatane Investment and Savings Corporation** and **UC and R** suddenly springing up and swinging all sorts of those big construction projects. And you know how the boondoggles related to that have been suppressed.

"Can't you get the 'Living Smokestack' to at least give me a peek at one set of uncooked records? It's not just my kids that are being screwed here, a lot of folks, even civilians, are getting dragged in. I've got Sasuke to start pulling his accounts out of **Utatane I and S**, and putting the money in a firm with a longer track record, but there's been a notice posted that the laws allowing guardians to dispose of real properties are going to be modified, and the biggest block of real estate that's could be up for grabs is the bulk of the Uchiha Compound."

Kurenai wondered if it was the fact that Anko had grown up in genteel poverty which made her so worried about money. Kurenai herself had the more typical ninja attitude about the stuff; she could always make more, and in any case there was such a vanishingly small chance that she would ever live long enough to actually retire on her hypothetical savings, anyway. Still, no one liked to be played for a sucker, and if she had thought that one of her genin were being abused… it would be her obligation to do whatever she could to fix the problem. And it would give her an excuse to talk with Asuma, and patch up their latest tiff. Anko had this huge thing about asking for favors, except from her closest friends. Probably more results of growing up trying to keep one step ahead of her family's creditors, and too often having to beg for a place to stay for the night, or a meal from one of her better-off schoolmates.

Kurenai had been glad when Anko had been appointed as a Jonin-sensei, even though it meant that with both of them teaching a genin team they hardly had time to get together. When they did get their chance they'd spend an hour trading stories, and would go out like old times to see what the limited nightlife of Konoha had to offer. It really wasn't a big town, not like the Daimyos' capitals in Fire, Earth, or Tea countries. There being a tendency for ninja to have their own circuit of entertainment spots, the opportunities in Konoha were even more limited than the population size suggested.

But what could be done with the situation, Anko (very predictably) did and overdid. And that was how they'd met Asuma. Actually, that was how Kurenai had rescued Asuma from Anko putting on the vamp, and probably leaving him at the end of evening, high, dry, and very frustrated.

The Hokage's son had just come back from his contract as one of the Daimyo's guardians, and was still trying to get used to life in the slow lane, with virtually no entertainment but karaoke in the bars and one movie theater in town. And living under his father's eye again. After the refined atmosphere (and mannered affairs) of the Daimyo's court he had been helpless against Typhoon Anko, until Kurenai had mercy on him. Since then they had been driving each other crazy, and Anko hadn't let up teasing Kurenai that if she had just left well enough alone, Asuma would have just had an incredible one night stand, and not had to try to work himself up to a proposal. The stress, according to Anko, had made the man double his smoking habit, and was ruining his health; Kurenai should just put him out of his misery and accept already!

Well, it would be an act of mercy.

_Naruto felt guilty about being so resentful at the Sanin's offer to 'knock off a few of the rough edges' of his skills. It was just that between getting things prepared for Sakura and Sasuke, working out the script for the epic 'The Fall of Nara Shikamaru' with the star, and working on his own stuff, he didn't really have enough hours in his day for something else. Under other circumstances, who wouldn't be eager to work with Jiraiya? Under current circumstances, Naruto felt he just had to go with the flow, and make the best of it._

"_Now, the first thing, I'm going to show you how to summon toads," said Jiraiya. "Don't feel bad if you only get a small one at first; everybody does."_

"_Jiraiya-sama, why toads? I thought summoned creatures were linked to your personality or something? I just don't feel that I'm a toad sort of guy, and anyway… toads? Ravens can fly and give you great spying. Dogs are great trackers. Snakes are tough and full of poison. Toads… eat bugs."_

"_Toads are awesome, full of skills and wisdom. And they beat Slugs!" For some reason that fact seemed to be of special importance to Jiraiya. The Sannin frowned for a moment, and then nodded his head._

"_You'd just freeze up if I showed you one of the big boys, so it'll be Gamachuken for you!"_

_With that he slammed his hand into the ground, and with a flash a large green and black striped amphibian appeared, with a head inscribed with the kanji "skilled," and a daisho set of swords proportioned to its own size. Naruto estimated it to be a little smaller than one of the White Tigers of the Forest of Death, but scrunched up a bit, to take account of a normal toad-like posture. The swords were a nice touch, though. The short one… maybe 70 centimeters, the long one… say 110 or so?_

_Naruto immediately created a clone, and tossed it his 'B' bag of tags. It already knew what it was supposed to do, and quickly cleared the area while four more of its 'brothers' popped into existence and scattered around the area as the toad drew its blades and hopped into battle, letting out a vigorous "Hai!"_

_There was no way Naruto was going to get into a sword fight with that thing. It was obvious that it had the reach on him, and since its first response was to draw both swords and charge in Naruto knew he'd surely be using his Chunin level skill against probably some sort of super-master-level fighter with five hundred years of practice. Too much like a… not even a fair fight, just a stupid one. It was either time to keep his distance and start throwing things (which he did, to have it cut his kunai in half in mid-air with marvelous speed and power), or close to within a half-meter or so and pit his mighty 45 Kilos of mass against its puny two or three hundred or so. From the smirk on Jiraiya's face, the Sannin was enjoying this all too much. It was time to get a little creative._

_The toad stopped its strange straddle-legged run when it saw that Naruto wasn't going to come to grips with it, and a disappointed look came over its face. At least that's what it looked like; to the extent that sort of face could have expressions that Naruto could read. Gamachuken evidently knew that while it could sprint as fast as anything, it wasn't a long-distance runner with its particular sort of stride and leg arrangement. So the toad pulled out its mobility ace: it hopped. Ten meters or more at a time; with Naruto dodging left and right, and doing slanting evasive sprints at one angle or another. _

_Suddenly a sleet of senbon needles came down around the boy, and he was in the midst of a roiling mass of suddenly appearing smoke. Deciding to end the pleasant chase before the ninja tried anything too cute, Gamachuken flipped out its rope-thick tongue with lightning speed to where the boy was seen last, and felt the familiar feel of a solid contact by that sticky body part. It retracted its encircling tongue, to find an irate Jiraiya stuck to it and approaching its face at great speed. The impact produced a loud 'smack,' and the sound of at least five identical laughs was heard around the pair. _

_By the time Sanin and toad were properly disentangled no Narutos were to be found. Unless Gamachuken listed how many trees and bushes were in the immediate area, and could compare it to how many had been there when he has started the fight, he was going to have a hard time pinpointing the genin he had been summoned to be an object lesson for._

"_This isn't really proving anything, you know," Jiraiya yelled out._

_The sound of unconcerned birds and cicadas was the only reply._

"_You still can't beat him. You're not strong enough, or good enough!"_

_From half a dozen spots around the Sanin and toad, kunai and senbon came whizzing in, each with a fizzing and sparking fuse on it. Gamachuken, no fool, de-summoned himself, leaving Jiraiya alone to face the inevitable. Reacting with great speed, Jiraiya substituted a suspicious looking shrub for himself, and was safely out of the zone when each of the tags went off, in a dazzling burst of light._

"_You don't __deserve__ to have a Toad Contract!" Jiraiya shouted, as a clone moaned out from the center of the ring of flares, "My eyes, my eyes!" before it dispersed itself. _

_ Jiraiya thought to himself, 'Gotta take that kid down a peg or two, or he'll never learn the important stuff._

_ 'Or there __is__ the alternative…'_


	13. Chapter 12

I do not own, or receive any financial benefit, from the Naruto properties.

A Teacher's Glory: A Union of Rejects: Chapter 12

By Larry Huss

_Nara Shikamaru sprawled, sore and bloody, on the spongy soil of a clearing in the Forest of Death for the fifth time that hour. It was long past being fun… in fact, it hadn't even started at that level, but when something is really a matter of life and death even the laziest can be motivated. He watched as the illusory sand Sakura had convinced his mind existed once again began to flow toward him at a trotting pace, and rolled back up to his feet. It was back to dodging and evading, as he slapped another prepared fake explosive tag to his torso. 'They're only doing it because they care,' Shikamaru thought, as he prepared to embarrass himself once again. 'Someday they'll call being a complete klutz 'doing a Nara'; I just hope I'll be there to laugh along with them.'_

"So, the Toads won't have anything to do with him; say he was just plain rude to Gamachuken and they deserve an apology. I can see both sides of the story; it puts me at a disadvantage in wearing a mask of righteous indignation and just tossing him off a cliff or something. Still, it got me thinking, and I finally got it through my head he wasn't a mushroom."

The Hokage frowned. "Mushroom? Why not a carrot or something? Must you always be so vulgar?"

"As I said," Jiraiya continued, "I can see both sides of the situation, and that's the exact slant he has on how he's been treated. The problem is that it's actually pretty much accurate. Not many genin realize it, and no matter how he tries to avoid thinking about things he can't help but have his reactions take that into account.

"So we traded info. He told me things he thought wouldn't hurt his teammates, and I answered his questions straight."

Still frowning, the Hokage interrupted "Isn't not giving tit-for-tat information a big part of your spying technique? How can we run a Hidden Village with that degree of candor with the troops? Genin don't need to know anything about policy, or techniques beyond their abilities."

"So I confirmed who his parents were, and-"

"What! That is a State Secret! If it gets out there could be hell to pay from Iwa, plus who knows how many other complications."

Jiraiya just shook his head. "Sensei, it's all old news, and if he survives another year or two it's going to be pretty hard for at least some of the facts not to get out. Maybe you could order him to wear a mask all the time, but his resemblance to Minato is just too obvious, now that he's getting older. The genin Uzumaki doesn't need to know who his father was; the boy Naruto does. I told him to keep it quiet, and he will. I gave him a goal not to tell anyone about Minato until his fifteenth birthday… and I think that he'll do that.

"Do you know what the little bugger has been doing, Sensei? He invented a proto-Rasengan! At thirteen, without any hint from anyone! The damn thing doesn't have the destructive power, being so unfocused, but it actually has a few uses that the Rasengan doesn't; it's a lot less intensely destructive, anyway. I showed him the real one, and he's going to start practicing it, after the Exams are over. He's almost back to his normal condition now, and since he's not all that sure of the internal security situation, what with all the strangers we're going to have showing up for the final Test in the Arena, he doesn't want to wear himself out trying to learn new, high-chakra using techniques until he's satisfied we haven't been infiltrated. "

Sarutobi felt as sense of betrayal at that. Didn't the child he had been kind to since he was an infant trust him to keep Konoha safe during the three days of overcrowded madness that the final Exams would entail? Was a mere genin thinking of himself as a hidden resource to be kept prepared for an emergency? How dare… oh, right. With a probably insane Jinchuriki coming to compete, it was perhaps not actually that bad an idea to have a hidden one up the sleeve. While it was good the boy was only thinking of his Village in not pushing himself forward, he should not be making such decisions for himself. But now was the time to let his former student know that the Old Man was not completely out of touch with even his lowliest of soldiers.

"Chakra Flood. Mitarashi said in her report that was what he was calling it. I should have paid more attention to it, I expect. I didn't have the information on that one sent to you, Jiraiya, as the technique was being put directly onto the Scroll of Forbidden Techniques. An obvious oversight, now that I think about it more.

"It was in regard to one of the Yamanaka mind searching jutsu. Yes, a prisoner had most of his chakra system forcefully drained and shocked for some time thereafter, allowing normally difficult to use invasive techniques to be used on him far more easily. As you say, evidently not too destructive, but not without uses, either.

"He and the Uchiha were doing something or other for their cute little teammate, also. But it hasn't been proven in combat, so there isn't much to say about it yet. And there was something silly about cats… "

From there the discussion wandered off in other directions. Instead of the expected old man being pessimistic and younger one being aggressive, it was Sarutobi who was not seeing any unaccounted for dangers on the horizon, and Jiraiya who felt that a massive programming of defensive reworking and fortification was needed in the immediate future. Then again, it was Sarutobi who would have to cough up the extra overtime pay for the vacation-time work, and extended shifts. Finding the proper balance point in such things was never easy.

_Old Man Ma wondered who the odd ninja with the strange haircut was. Ma had been wandering for quite some time, now that he had floated away from his descendents (at their request; he was something of an embarrassment to their new-found respectability), and he had been picking up spare change for his journeys by doing some martial arts tutoring at various training halls he came across in out of the way places. There wasn't any reason for the name 'Ma Joong' to cause anyone distress, this far away, and after all these years. He doubted they'd even heard about the Judge, here in the beyond-the-beyond. Still, old instincts were coming alive. Having a trained killer (even if he probably wasn't connected to the local underworld) paying attention to you was rarely a good thing. _

_For the last several hours the tall man in green had been up on a rooftop of one of the old abandoned buildings that surrounded the dusty courtyard Ma had been using as a place for his lessons with the interested young clerks and students of this little town. Their ninja overlords didn't forbid it, and since the disappearance of their constabulary a decade or so ago, only the most unofficial and voluntary of local neighborhood watchmen had been keeping the petty bullies and thieves under control. Accordingly, many merchants and craftsmen had no trouble letting their younger employees off for an hour or two in the afternoon to learn a bit better how to discourage the rowdier element. And there were always the young braves who wanted to show off some flashy moves to impress a special young lady. He'd been one himself, back before the seas were wet, and he sympathized with their motivations._

Mighty Guy, Jonin of the Leaf, watched the big old man patiently move from student to student in the dusty courtyard down below, and have them shift their feet this way, or put their weight just so. His oddly-accented voice echoed upwards, stressing the need for proper breath, and not using their soon-to-be-acquired skills in improper conduct. All well and good, and martial arts were, of course, a fine way of keeping the body healthy. But finding civilians doing something beyond mere money making wasn't what had brought Guy here. There was the rumor, slightly confirmed, of a drunken brawl down at one of the rougher saloons near where the carters and drovers gathered and caroused. A fracas in which an ancient foreigner had quelled a score of strong, drunken, and armed men with hardly any violence. Nothing but a few broken arms. As a connoisseur of hand-to-hand combat, Guy had the self-imposed obligation to check things and prevent the humble folks of Konoha from being taken in by fast-talking foreigners.

Soon, Lee, following his Sensei's instructions, would show up in civilian clothes and without his head protector to challenge the old man. He would make the stranger prove his claims to be a valid instructor of the divine art. Guy was justifiably proud of how two of his students had reached the Chunin Exams final stage, but Lee, despite his many virtues, had failed miserably. He would have to learn a painful lesson, that deceit and falsehood were everywhere, even among the venerably aged, and especially among the cutest girls. It was one of the sorriest, but most necessary lessons for a boy burning with the fires of youth to learn. As for recruiting a cute girl for Lee's next lesson (after he learned that venerable grey hairs do not a sweet grandparent make)… perhaps the Yamanaka would be suitable?

At last, his most ardent student entered, looked at the many shop clerks and apprentices trying awkwardly to center themselves and find their natural balance, and shook his head, then said in sad disbelief.

"Don't you guys know you're just going to hurt yourself, if you let yourself get into a fight, instead of running away? I mean… do you really think an hour or two a week pretending to train will let you master one of the fine arts? If you go past the Ninja Academy you'll see seven years olds who could knock you over without thinking of it.

"And I mean, really! How can you move in such a position? You're stuck in one place like a clothesline pole, just a steady target if someone throws something at you! Is that the best your sensei can do for you?"

'Yes,' Guy thought to himself, 'Lee really does have to learn a bit more subtlety, even to be a provocateur. He cares so much, he tries so hard, how could you break the news to him about flies and honey?'

The old man came over to the young (hidden) ninja, his gait a little bit of a slide, and a little bit of a swagger. He spoke with a foreign accent, and a little of the odd formality that those who have risen in life to a higher status sometimes used.

"Young man, I am Old Man Ma, and these, my students, are here for a serious purpose. If you don't want to join them, that's fine. But have the good manners to be quiet and conceal your bad upbringing and low intelligence. You'll get in less trouble in life that way."

'Now, Lee,' thought the Jonin on the rooftop. 'Now you should give your name in proper form.'

"And who's going to make me!" yelled the disguised genin.

"Perhaps your nurse, when she comes to change your diapers?" asked the old foreigner, turning his back and walking away. Lee didn't take the insult… well.

He tried to run around the man and get in his way, only to be clothes lined on a massive forearm as he tried to pass the ambling ancient.

For a second or so Lee lay on the ground, trying to breath, and holding his throat. Then, with a yell, he charged at the broad back (matched in front by a broad belly) of Old Man Ma with intent to commit mayhem. Only to somehow find himself in front of the man, but now face down in the dust. Up above Guy nodded his head; he had never seen that move done quite that way before, but there are more ways than one to cook fish. The old man didn't even spare a second as he walked over Lee's body, driving his face back into the dirt.

"Now, students, now that this rude young person is having a soil snack, I'd like you to get back into your first positions. Letting the farting of sparrows distract you will slow up your progress toward skill.

"By the way, the child is one of your local ninja; his master is watching us as I speak, and in general I would be embarrassed if you slack off and forget what I have taught you. You don't want me to be embarrassed, do you?"

Hurriedly, the score of young people resumed their various stances; two teen girls began to flex their wrists in a circular motion, and several young men began to shoot out short, rapid punches, with an exclamation barked out with each one. The others began doing anything from standing still and concentrating on breathing from the diaphragm to bending over backwards at the waist until their skulls rapped against their buttocks, or at least as close to that result as they could get. The old man stood facing them, not focusing on anyone in particular, and giving short criticism to first one, and then another, without seeming to pay special attention to any. Up above Guy felt a bit ashamed, as he hurriedly wrote a little note, folded it up, and then sent it twirling down like a shuriken at the back of the old man's head. Guy wasn't surprised in the least when a hand flashed back over a beefy shoulder and caught it at the last instant.

Well, at least the youth of Konoha weren't being defrauded by a charlatan. Guy still didn't see exactly where Ma was going with his training methods, but he was willing to admit now that they were, in fact, probably being done for a very specific purpose. After his own fiasco at being subtle the least he could do was to introduce himself, and ask for the opportunity to let the stranger test him.

_Temari of the Sands was doing her shopping today. She was going to see the Chunin Examinations Finals after all, and before it degenerated into senseless violence and meaningless carnage she wanted to show off a little that she was a young woman, and not just a blond killing machine. At home, looking like a fresh-faced civilian girl would be unthinkable; the daughter of the Kazekage could never do something like that! But in a far-off land (before it became a far-off desolation) she could pretend, for two or three days, that she was a young woman with the time and inclination to flirt and be frivolous. It would even be an acceptable form of cover, in the security sense. After all, she wasn't going as a contestant, just as a sightseer for her two brothers' displays. Gaara in killing people, and Kankuro, who had been invited as a between-fight entertainment and exhibition of the talents of Suna. It had really been nice of Konoha to let them do that sort of advertising and helping them drum up some business. It was certainly more than their own Daimyo was willing to do._

_Temari hoped that she wouldn't have to personally kill any of the nicer people she had met during the earlier part of the Exams; Yamanaka Ino or that friendly Akimichi Choji. They were sweet kids, not at all like the slimy little Uchiha or his weird pink-haired teammate. It just goes to show, she thought, there's good and bad all over. It was a shame that this time she was going to have to be one of the bad._

_Hmm… so if she was going in a civilian capacity she wouldn't be wearing her genin outfit; it would be much more appropriate if she wore a less… militant style of clothing. A skirt with embroidery, some shoes with at least a little heel and something on top that let it be known that __her__ top was developing nicely. On the day of the treachery she would have to go to the arena without her large battlefan (it would be too likely to arouse suspicion if such an obviously specialized weapon was being brought into the place by a non-contestant), so something with stylish pockets to hold her smaller fans, and a few kunai would be just right. So basically something in sky-blue with tawny gold and scarlet embroidery around the hem, waist, and pockets? Maybe a necklace to set off her eyes, like that one with the beads of yellow-brown tourmaline? If only she could have had a friend to do this shopping trip with her, it would have been perfect. _

Though his informational sources were now far more restricted than he was used to, Orochimaru did know that the Container had survived. What every previous report had indicated, that the creature was stupid and lacked self-discipline, meant that by now it would be unable to resist the urge (built-in) to utilize the Cursed Seal of Heaven. Its already weak sense of self, and undoubted latent hostility to the callous and stupid population of Konoha, should make it ripe to take commands when the invasion took place next week.

Even without the Seal it had been unlikely the Container would have been killed in the attack; that much danger would have certainly caused the Fox to seize control of the weak-witted child. Now it would not only be wreaking random havoc on the day, but the command elements of the seal would make it the most useful puppet at his command since Orochimaru had signed his contract with Manda of the Snake Summons. A gentle smile crossed the Sennin's face.

Without the advanced version of the Uchiha eyes, Orochimaru knew that he couldn't command any of the Tailed Beasts by traditional means. Except this way he could use his own techniques for getting the Beast containers under his control. His technique; not some freakish gift that spoiled and inbred aristocrats hoarded with their incestuous matings. Perhaps he should try to spread his control around a bit. He knew, none better, where the One-Tail was. There was little doubt about the locations of Eight and Two Tails, and they were prone to dangerous stunts that would make them vulnerable. Wouldn't that be a nice surprise for Tobi, and his lackey, Pain? A few of the other locations were on the tip of his tongue; a complete set was probably too difficult to achieve without going the route of his old companions. But there was little reason not to get an augmented squad to serve as an assault force when he had to deal with Akatsuki. Sooner or later they would be coming to demand compensation for any number of petty things they thought he was guilty of; why not give them a bit of entertainment?

And in the end, having the most powerful source of chakra known to exist as his tool was really too good to pass up. He wondered why he hadn't thought of taking over the Container earlier; probably too much work, and not enough vacation time. It tended to make him excessively narrow minded when he didn't get in his recreation and relaxation. After he leveled his old home, he decided. Then he'd give himself a little well earned rest. All work and no play…

"_It's starting to get on my nerves." Naruto said, not looking directly at the source of his discomfort._

"_You've got a young, blond, admirer; don't most guys go for that sort of thing?" Sakura asked._

"_Same species would be nice. It's cute with Sasuke and Yoko, but when you get right down to it, she's pretty cute by herself anyway."_

_The genin in question was about to protest that his interests were strictly training, revenge, and maybe girls, someday, when the feline in question leaped up into his arms. As he rubbed her exposed belly he contemplated how he'd get back at his sniggering teammates. Still, there was the basic question to be answered. Why was there a small monkey showing up for the last few days when they practiced?_

"_Maybe it's been driven out of its troop, or something, and it wants to join up… or something? Got lonely, maybe?" Sasuke finally came out with._

_It was such a small monkey, they would have felt absolutely evil to have thrown rocks at it to drive it away. It was also a quiet monkey, and wasn't disturbing them any, except for being there in the first place. It wasn't raiding some garden, flinging its… waste at anyone, or menacing a small child. It was just observing them with great interest and regularity, and had been for several days. As far as they could tell it wasn't anyone disguised, and it wasn't a pure illusion; it was exactly what it seemed. _

_Monkeys weren't unusual around Konoha. Having a warm climate and lots of trees, the forests broken by occasional patches of farms and gardens, a fair number of the three local species of the things were often seen outside the walls. There was even a small resident population of one type inside, also. This one wasn't any species that Sakura knew, and she had been to the library to check it out in the reference books on wildlife there with no success. _

_As their Sensei came over, the final straw was added to the burden of their discontent. A different, longer-nosed primate appeared at the wood line, walked over to their observer, gave it a piece of fruit, and took its place as the first went off. Enough was enough. If they could capture Tora the Cruel in record time, they could damn sure take down this simian spy and subject it to interrogation! _

_As a training exercise it was to be a no-Clone capture; three to one odds against a master of a particular environment, with Sensei observing and sure to give a scathing critique afterwards. Harm a hair on its head, and the exercise would be counted a failure. The three genin (with Yoko streaking off to join in the fun) were off, to the immense astonishment of the furry observer. That got them their first twenty meters; after that they had to fight for every half step horizontally, and every vertical pace closer to the dodging monkey. _

_It was acrobatic enough that Yoko finally had to just curl up on a tree limb, exhausted and out-dodged. She decided to blame it on her 'delicate condition.' Soon the pursuit had gone beyond her field of vision, and she slunk back to the training ground it had all started at to wait for the eventual triumphant return of her Sasuke. And the others, of course._

_It was finally caught and immobile, held by the neck in Naruto's hand. After twenty minutes, and three kilometers horizontal (and four vertical in ascents and descents) pursuit,it was a trophy to be treasured, and so was carefully tied so that it couldn't bite or scratch. They escorted it proudly back to the training area. For her criticism, a puffing Anko finally had to resort to telling them they had been doing so much combat training lately that they had been neglecting their agility exercises. Pretty puny stuff, really. _

_The discussion turned to who now had a pet monkey. It was certainly a handsome beast of its kind (whatever kind that was), and hadn't engaged in any of the less savory behaviors it might have used in expressing its displeasure at incarceration, showing good manners. At that point a minor roadblock in their plans arouse._

"_I don't think I'd like that," the monkey said. "And I don't think that the rest of the family would, either. I mean, a visit would be nice, I suppose, but I guess I'm just an outdoorsy type of guy."_

_All, human and feline alike, eyes turned to Sakura. She shook her head defiantly: "I'm alright. I can take this. The second time is always easier, they say."_

_Naruto carefully untied the creature; it had played fair with them, after all, and to keep it tied up seemed unfriendly. It gave a little nod, stretched itself, and took a small bow._

"_I'm called Apricot Blooming, and I'll be seeing more of you folks. We're doing a bit of recruiting. And please, Miss Mitarashi, a little discretion in your official reports, perhaps?"_

_With that it slowly faded away, until only its smile was left, and then that was gone also. It had once read about that sort of stuff in a book, and had always wanted to give it a try. If it had still been there it would have been pleased with the reaction it had left behind. But that would have meant… paradoxes. _

Shimura Danzo looked at the simple unfolded piece of paper in his hands. So, Hiruzen had finally tumbled to the coming disruption of the coming Chunin Exam. It had certainly taken him long enough; the temptation to send him an anonymous warning had been building for weeks now. Being assigned to command the Main Gate guards was far less than the limit of Danzo's talents, but as he kept how much he could still do a secret, such a posting was reasonable enough. And, since he had gotten a good idea of what the attack plan would be, it would be a safe enough place to be as things resolved themselves.

Would it be better if Hiruzen survived the attack, or if he died? Survived, Danzo decided; if the Hokage died in a battle taking place within the walls, in public view, the entire defense might collapse. That would be too much; the Village itself would be in real danger. Yes, survived; he'd have to make sure to have some of his best Root operatives in the stadium ready to pitch in if Orochimaru turned out to be better than expected. Or if Hiruzen had gone too far in his decline.

That was unlikely, though. In fact, lately he had become harder to influence, even with 'special techniques.' Perhaps he was building up some sort of immunity to them. If so, that was something to think about. It wouldn't do to try to use them promiscuously and base a long term strategy around them. One short and sweet grab for the will of some foreign potentate at the opportune time, and then seal things with a basic delayed poison to take care of possible second thoughts when the technique wore off, was one thing. Keeping a elite ninja under control, quite another.

Danzo sighed. In the years since Hiruzen first started to show those flashes of infirmity of will, back during the Hyuga crisis, the 'special jutsu' had only been used on him a handful of times. Once to get the Uchiha mess settled in a permanent manner, then to get Utatane Koharu's little quid pro quo taken care of. There had been that time when Jiraiya's request for permission to investigate the Land of Rice Fields had to be denied, and of course there had been the task of making sure that the Chunin Exams were to be held in Konoha this time. The odd occasion he had had to influence outsiders (the Kage of Suna, and others) hardly counted.

If only Hiruzen hadn't blown the Hyuga decision so badly. They had the Kumo Head Jonin dead to rights (and also very dead in general), and in his idiotic quest for peace Hiruzen had accepted their ridiculous demands for Hyuga Hiashi's head. If Hizashi hadn't volunteered in his stead, who knows what the effect on the balance of power in Konoha would have been, whether or not the Hyuga would have gone the way of the Uchiha or not. To go through the pain and blood of winning a war, and then act as if Konoha was the loser… that had been intolerable. That day had been when Danzo had finally decided that manipulation of the Hokage (if he could do it discretely) was not treason.

Everything that had followed from Hizuren's awful decision had been both predictable and bad. Instead of Konoha's size and strength making them unquestionably the first ranked Hidden Village, the one that none dared anger or cross, they had become just one among others. And just one among others meant that the others considered Konoha potentially vulnerable to a shrewd enough and sudden enough stroke. As the new alliance of treacherous Suna and upstart Sound proved.

To be safe one must be both strong beyond question, and feared beyond doubt. To be hated was unfortunate, but better even that than to be despised. And now all the Hidden Villages were wondering… was Konoha as strong as it looked, or was it weak and just hiding its decrepitude. The worst thing was… they were right. The weakness was at the top, not among the soldiers that worked, and had to pay the price for folly among the leadership.

After this current affair was over, then a definite plan would have to be put in place. The current administration had gone on too long, and had gotten too complacent

_Jiraiya looked at the map on the table. It was marked with the size of the garrison that would be on each section of wall, and the units that would be hidden in the forest where there was the greatest likelihood that they would be able to take Sand in the rear. Oto… was Orochimaru's, and that meant an ambush of them was unlikely to escape his discovery. He knew the country around here far too well to be surprised._

_So, Konoha would have its listening posts and walls occupied. The seals that strengthened the gates and walls were fully re-charged, and they would be hard to climb by normal means, or burrow under. There were even a few mine fields of explosive tags with remote fusing in place. Yes, the invaders would meet an alert and prepared town, ready to surprise them. That being said… Jiraiya stared at the map, wondering what the invaders would be doing for __their__ surprises._

She was having dinner at the Yamanakas. Kankuro was back at the inn feverishly working on his puppets. Every joint was being oiled, every pin and screw secured to the ultimate safe point of strain.

All the candidates who would be fighting tomorrow in the first day of combat (except for Gaara, who just didn't care, or have to) were no doubt trying to scout out the Grand Arena of Konohagakure for any advantages that might be found in that foreknowledge. All the secret infiltrators from Suna and Oto were no doubt being torn between tasting the fleshpots of a less regimented town than their own, and doing the spying and planning for the big event that would be taking place tomorrow. She got to have a family dinner with the Yamanakas.

Mrs. Yamanaka, 'Mai,' was a decent cook. Not gourmet-type splendid, but the plates of hearty food that she carried in from her kitchen had a pleasant little kick. Temari wondered how good a cook her mother would have been; did Kages' wives cook, even for their own families? She couldn't even really remember her mother's face (only from old photographs), much less what she had acted like. She wanted to tell Ino not to bother with the salads she was concentrating on to keep her (already slender) figure, and just go and enjoy herself while she could.

Mr. Yamanaka was, well… hot. Even when he helped out at the family flower shop he was a powerful presence, not dominating only because his good manners made his customers so at ease. He teased his daughter so well, and often, that she was in a constant state of saying "oh, daddy" that only the gentleness of his pokes kept it from being awkward. Temari couldn't decide whether she would have preferred him as a father, or a lover. Not that there was any chance of either happening. So soon, so soon, all this would pass away. She didn't understand how she could feel so content tonight, with her conflicting feelings. Maybe the fact that she was having locally made grape wine with the entrée, with a promise that later there would be some plum wine imported from the famous orchards of the Moadoroki Shrine on Nagi Island. Perhaps that had a bit to do with it. In dusty Suna only the most important banquets for visitors had anything but thin and sour vintages poured. In rich Konoha, honored guests of even regular ninjas could get at least an occasional taste of the best.

Before the dessert course the family took a little breather for an hour or so in the reception room, sprawled on soft chairs or a couch. If Temari happened to doze off a little she was sure she wasn't the only one. When they finally went back to the eating area she found a cooled fruit and cream concoction was waiting, with the promised plum wine to accent it. Bliss rolled out from her tongue to spread throughout her entire body. She was still floating from that when she left to go back to her inn. Perhaps she had overindulged though; she felt a bit… off.

_When the blonde kunoichi from Suna passed out on the couch, Yamanaka Inoichi gave an imperious jerk of his head to his wife, signaling her to leave the room. When Ino made to leave also he shook her head; it was time for another lesson on the real business of the Yamanaka: running the Internal Intelligence Branch of Konoha Security. _

"_Notice, genin, the exact feel of her chakra, both as to her personal indications, and as to the level. The drugs in her wine goblet and in the portions of food she received have rendered her unconscious, and temporarily lowered her chakra levels so that the mind-reading technique I'll demonstrate will be able to extract the data sought for without damaging her mind, as would be the case if it had to be ripped out when she is at full force. _

"_Yes, Ino, ripped out is just as painful as it sounds. Also, she'd remember what had happened, and that would lead to further complications. So, now, you do it like __this__!"_

_With that Inoichi preformed a sequence of seven seals. Ino knew that her father was also doing things in his own mind to prepare it for the reception of the thoughts and memories he was hunting for. While the actual hand signs for the jutsu had been stolen (by the Uchiha among others) in the past, it was the internal mental preparations and training that had made the Yamanaka the premier practitioners of non-damaging direct mental interrogation. She was a bit dubious about doing this to a guest; Temari had been so friendly back in the tower in the forest, and she'd been a perfect guest (with great fashion sense) at dinner so far. But business was business, and Daddy had promised her that Temari's mind wouldn't be damaged at all if they had the various dosages right._

"_Now, genin, you look. The primary things Jiraiya-sama mentioned were possible large scale intelligence infiltrations and some targeted prisoner escapes. But don't be afraid to follow your intuitions if you feel something important is just out of sight."_

_Ino set her breathing patterns, and then initiated the techniques to enter the kunoichi's mind. She spent a long time there, being less adept than her father, and finally he had to shake her to get her to withdraw her mind from the other girl. A quickly evaporating vaporous antidote to the sedatives the Suna kunoichi had been fed was placed in some of the pots of rich-smelling blooms scattered around the parlor (and what could be more natural for an owner of a florist shop than to for him to have some of his more robust specimens decorating his own residence?), and soon Temari was awake and alert again. She did some decent damage on Yamanaka Mai's specialty dessert, and left for her inn, not suspecting in the least that she had just devoured enough toxin to give her a debilitating (but not dangerous) illness all the next day. _

_After Temari left, the Yamanaka ninja (father and daughter) made their way through the doors connecting to the back yards of the buildings adjacent to their residence. From there it was just selecting a safe place to enter the streets for their swift trip to the Internal Intelligence Branch office._

It was sometimes hard to figure out how to talk to someone who was simultaneously your commanding officer (due to a special assignment, Class C), a superior ninja, and your usually indulgent father. Ino decided that respectful formality was the way to go; they were in his office as head of Internal Intelligence Branch, and the door was open, with people coming in for briefings and to carry written orders to various teams and individuals. The fact that a Sennin was sitting in the room, sprawled out in a chair, also argued for a bit of restraint.

"Sir, do you think we can get prepared in time? Having an insane demon rampaging… how will we stop it?"

"Ino-chan, Ino-chan, this was only confirmation. We've had an inkling of this for some weeks, and it is positively impertinent to ask how we'll stop this in the presence of Jiraiya-sama. After all, Gaara isn't the Nine-Tail, and we have a number of alternate and secret sources of strength at our command.

"Now you get some rest. We can't let it be known we've confirmed the timing of the attack, and so we'll have to let the Exams go on. But that doesn't mean that we won't have augmented our patrolling for their infiltrated agents. Those genin who aren't in the Exams will be in organized teams doing patrol work, and to make sure when things get hot the civilians are properly evacuated. You're going to be with Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata, and Rock Lee. Aburame will be leader. Other teams will also be around. Your initial station will be near a Stadium exit, to help with a possible evacuation. You will receive other orders, as needed. If you see anyone wearing one of these," he held up a yellow armband with the Konoha symbol on it in blue, and the words 'Auxiliary Militia,' "you are to consider them friends unless obvious attacks are made by them."

"Got it, Dad…Sir. Just curious, could we maybe have Uzumaki too. With all his faults, he would add a little muscle to a pretty young team."

"Uzumaki Naruto is on special assignment."

_Sasuke was sitting on his bed when he heard the knock on his door. His small jump told him that he must be a lot more nervous than he had thought, he decided. _

"_Come in, Tamaki. I'm decent."_

_Considering the number of times they had been in the baths and seen each other naked, that qualifier was probably a bit unneeded. The girl came into the room with a tray in hand, and a very nervous expression on her face. Sasuke prepared for the worst._

"_Uchiha-sama, as the Clan Head and only current member you have certain… unique responsibilities. These are made more urgent due to the increased risks you will be engaged in dealing with in the next several days._

"_Accordingly it is imperative that you… reproduce… so the Clan does not go extinct. Fortunately I am particularly able to help you in that important duty."_

_Sasuke felt himself suddenly get very, very warm and short of breath._

_Tamaki lowered the tray to his eye level, so he could see what was on it. Twelve clean test tubes and a matching set of stoppers._

"_I have the proper preservation equipment in my room. Now, Master Sasuke, I want you to fill these up before you go to sleep tonight. For the good of the Clan!_

"_I'll be waiting outside your door to take them away when you're done. Please remember to close them properly when they're full."_

_The girl gave a sigh of relief, that hadn't been easy for her to get out; giving such orders to the Clan Head. But it was her duty, just as he now had his._

"_Twelve… what do you think I am?" Sasuke protested._

_Tamaki set her shoulders, she had been afraid (and perhaps something else, also) about this._

"_I will do everything I can do to help you, Master Sasuke!"_

The tall man picked up one of the yellow armbands, twirled it around his finger, and flipped it to his apprentice. The other picked it out of the air with no trouble, and looked at it with an odd sense of wonder. It was strange for him to receive so much welcome and trust, here in the Land of Fire.

"Won't you find it awkward to go into battle without Kubikiribocho in your hands, Zabuza-sama?"

The big man shrugged, it wasn't as if he was going to argue about that, but it still it seemed it was time for another little ninja lesson, actually two.

"Right now I'm 'Roshi,' remember that. Never break cover, even in private, unless you absolutely have to. And yes, I feel… well actually I'd prefer to fight naked than how we'll have to do things, but the payoff is going to be too good to screw things up. So, 'Shiro,' keep your mouth shut if you can't keep your tongue under control. And keep this little arm decoration handy, and out of sight until you need it. Count your blessings; at least you can cut loose with your best stuff when things go hot. I've had to give up my favorite Kiri-type techniques as well as my little paring knife for this gig.

"Look at the bright side, anyone who's throat you cut will deserve it by anyone's standards, you puritanical little prig!"

Shiro… at least for the next few days… smiled. He had been shown his rally point earlier that day, his duty station. Guarding one of the emergency shelters, something he could really get into. Of course… Roshi… would be doing Stadium duty. Shiro wondered if he'd pulled a little string or two to get that plum. Of course, that Mitarashi woman that had been so impressive back in Wave would be watching her genin team fighting there. Shun smiled again.

_Apricot Blooming prostrated himself before his leader, his master, his god. If he kept his face down in the ground he wouldn't have to see the look of sorrow on Enma's face. But some things were not meant to be._

"_Blooming! When did you get so respectful? Stand up and give me your report. Is he suitable? Is he worthy? Will he __do__?"_

_Reluctantly the small monkey with the large nose got to his feet. At least the king was putting on his official visage; stern, wise, and terrible. Nothing in it of the rumors he'd heard, of the currents only one who had been in the Heavens could feel. No hint that an old and dear friend was soon to be gone from the mortal realms._

"_Yes." There was nothing else really to say. "He rules the wildness inside him. He is as merciful as he dares be. He will do what he must, despite the pain. He will do._

"_Will the other side… cooperate?"_

_The great head nodded. "We have talked; if the Toads didn't come through it was decided to extend our contacts with the Fire-Forest-Realm. And the Toads don't like his smell."_

_Apricot Blooming smiled, "You're going to them with a whopping big bribe didn't have anything to do with __that__, did it?" Then he reached up and caught the heavy bunch of grapes his king threw at him._

"_Hey, it doesn't do to let things just happen to you, randomly, does it?" grinned the Great Sage Equal to Heaven._

_The small monkey bowed, and backed up three paces before turning and walking out of the audience chamber, pulling grapes off the bunch and chewing thoughtfully. Things might work out, after all. _

Author's Note:

A mushroom farm keeps the young ones in a deep, dark, place and feeds them on manure.

A ninja genin is kept in deep, dark ignorance of many things, and is usually informed with legends and lies.

"Great Sage Equal to Heaven "is but one of Enma's titles and names. After the first few millennia you tend to acquire more than a few. Others may seek to steal them, to further their own fame, but mere power does not a Sage make, and just staying alive for a few millennia is an indication that power isn't lacking either.


	14. Chapter 13

I do not own, or receive any benefit, from the Naruto properties.

A Teacher's Glory: A Union of Rejects: Chapter 13

By Larry Huss

It dawned as fine a Fall day as only Konohagakure could produce. The temperature was just a bit brisk, with a promise that the clear skies would have the day warm up nicely for all those who would have their rears planted on the stone or metal seats of the various sections of the Municipal Stadium. The humidity was low, and the only clouds visible were small and high up, lazily crossing the sky. Scores of small venders were filling up their carts with ice for cooling drinks, or were lighting charcoal braziers for quick grilling or heating, or filling their carts' bins with souvenirs, souvenirs, souvenirs! Bookmakers were groaning as they rose uncomfortably early, and began to go over the morning odds. There was money to be made, and reports of the unofficial scouting teams to go over for hints on who was at their peak, and who had perhaps gotten injured in the last few days of training.

_Temari of the Sands was in the most private room of the suite the Kazekage had gotten for his children; emptying herself loudly, odoriferously, and uncontrollably. Her brother Kankuro had decamped earlier, carrying his latest (and first really functional) creations, and his inherited combat models concealed in a storage scroll. As much as he could think about anything else but his upcoming exhibition, he felt sympathy for her, but empathy wasn't stressed in Suna, even for sisters, and he had a lot on his mind anyway. Her youngest brother merely looked on with detachment as she ran back and forth from her bedroom to the toilet. In the abstract, pain was always interesting, yet somehow this episode was… unrewarding. Even Mother seemed a little embarrassed._

Old Man Ma stretched slowly, and with some pain, as he got out of bed in his far less posh rented room. 'What do you expect, you old fool?' he thought. The young fellow yesterday hadn't been bad, for a stripling. And he'd played fair and hadn't used any of the sorcery that was so common around here, especially among these ninja people. Which was all to the good; things might have escalated, and Ma wasn't really eager for another daring escape with the local authorities offering kilos of gold for his capture (or at least the capture of his head). That was a young man's game, and Ma was perfectly willing to leave that in the past, like two women at once. You had to mature sometime.

_ Regretfully, the young man (who would have to call himself Shiro for the next few days longer) ignored the 'perfect for the occasion' robes he had managed to re-establish his wardrobe with, and selected a clean but drab set of trousers and tunic for the day's use. Nothing might come out of all the preparation and pother of the last few weeks, but… Shiro wasn't going to act like a spoiled child and be un-professional. He'd gotten enough lectures about that sort of thing already. A sudden thought went through his head: if his Master hadn't been sure that Miss Mitarashi was going to be here, would he have accepted this commission for them in the first place? The pay wasn't all that good, in conventional terms, though the potential for better things was certainly present. Was there the potential that his Master hoped that Miss Mitarashi would be favorably inclined to him if he worked this job for her village? Shiro pondered these things as he selected the sandals with the brown thongs over those with the black ones. Even in disguise, you had to have standards._

Nara Shikaku enjoyed the warmth of the tea mug in his hands. In a few minutes he'd go up and wake his son, if the boy had actually been able to get to sleep last night. Nara Shikaku, Jonin Commander or Konoha, was scared.

He knew that Shikamaru's friends had made it a first priority to prepare him for the battle he'd have today. It wasn't enough to calm his fears. He'd made himself very clear with the Hokage, as recently as yesterday, that the whole having Shika actually fight the Suna Beast Container idea was idiocy. Somehow the old man had gotten his mind so fixed on an ideal Big Picture that he couldn't see that people had to survive in the shorter term to make any use of the fruit from far-reaching plans. But Shikaku was loyal, and bottled up his fear and anger, and especially didn't let his son know how bad things were. It wouldn't help the boy at all, and Shikamaru needed to at least think that his father had confidence in him. And what Yoshino, his wife, would do if she really knew the odds against her son, was enough to almost prompt Shikaku to go missing-nin. Shikaku only hoped that the secret plan Shikamaru had hinted about was more than some typical harebrained Uzumaki stunt.

To the Thousand Hells with this shilly-shallying! He'd tell Shikamaru that the instant he felt in danger he should forfeit, and run as far from the Suna Container as possible. And if it bollixed up some Hokage-level plan, it would end up as a lesson for the Hokage not to push his ninja troops into impossible situations with only the weakest and flimsiest explanations.

It was interesting how reassuring it was though, that at least their Container was on Shikamaru's side, and sane. Or at least as sane as any ninja was.

_ They were all at Sasuke's place, just as they had arranged the day before. Those who would be fighting today were carb-loading for the heavy energy demands they'd be facing later on. Naruto was carb-loading because it meant ramen. There seemed a bit of tension in the air, besides the whole 'maybe getting killed' thing. Tamaki was evidently ticked off at Sasuke; the male cats were evidently on his side, while the female cats (except for Yoko, of course) seemed to be trying to stay out of things. What the problem was remained undiscussed, but at one point Tamaki had pulled Naruto to a side and had asked if Sasuke had "disappeared" for any length of time with Sakura yesterday. Even the negative answer he had given hadn't cleared the air much, but the glares Sakura had been getting ceased at least._

_ They'd be leaving soon, meeting up with Team 10 for the walk to the Stadium. Naruto already had ten Shadow Clones made and out scouting; they'd be a hidden escort on the way. He didn't want to do any more today, if he could help it. Even though he had already recovered from the early morning chakra expenditure, and had made sure the Fox was up to speed (and under as effective control as he could arrange) it was likely it would be a draining day, and if things went only moderately as rough as Jiraiya had been trying to prepare for he was going to be as close to chakra exhaustion as he was ever going to be likely to get. Maybe it would have been worthwhile to try to perfect that Rasengan thing after all… too late now to worry about it._

_ Sasuke got up from the table and went out of the room for a few minutes; when he came back he had three sealed envelopes. On each was written "In the event of my death." He gave one to each of the three humans there. On the one he gave to Naruto was an added line, "and only in the event of my death, or I'll kill you!" The blond looked up, and Sasuke whispered, "I know you're going crazy trying to figure out why Tamaki's on the rag. Well, your copy has that, but I'd rather tell you in person; it's funnier that way." Naruto gave a grateful grin. He hated being out of the loop, and Sasuke knew how to clear up his own mysteries behind him._

Deep inside a blond head (or perhaps a belly), the Nine Tailed Fox tried its own sort of handicapping, with its own definition of winning. The man was decent, for a man, but who would want even an almost comfortable prison in preference to the delight of freedom. The question was: if the man was going down, hard, was it worthwhile to try to break out of the prison? Whatever humans thought about their mastery of chakra seals and the like, they certainly weren't perfect in how they did them; they never lived long enough for that. They said the death of the Container meant either death, or at least centuries of mindless dispersal for the Prisoner. Could he believe them… should he believe them? They certainly had an agenda when they did things, told things. But, though he had all the strength in the world (perhaps a little less than formerly, things being how they were) the Fox didn't actually know that much about the stuff. The old 'a fish doesn't know water' thing was very true.

Was the risk of distracting the man, and causing his death, more likely to free it, or damage it? Things were never simple, were they? In the final analysis, it wasn't a long range planner anyway; it never had needed to be. Right now it was struggling to learn to become a medium range worrier.

_ Naruto felt lonely in his seat in the stands, right at the edge overlooking the arena. His teammates were in the warm-up area, his sensei was on some detached duty, and even his non-competing friends were all grouped in action teams; he could spot Ino, Choji, Hinata and the bug-guy Shino up near an exit ramp on the other side of the stands. Oh well; at least he had Kiba and Akamaru for company, the ringside seats being wheelchair accessible. Having scouted out the place several times before, he was able to point out to Kiba the current crop of obstacles and obstructions, and give his opinion how effective they'd be for various strategies. Akamaru was listening… you could always tell with him… but Kiba seemed way too apathetic and depressed. At least he wasn't hiding in his room anymore, back in the Inuzuka Compound. They'd (all the genin from that year's graduating class) had visited him, but he just wasn't snapping back emotionally. Maybe getting out would help; even Akamaru had been getting depressed with his partner's lack of enthusiasm._

_ The opening warm-up act was out there right now, in one of the more open areas. The Daimyo's Nobles Guard was doing mounted archery exhibits. Pretty riding, and for short range shooting; not bad, but sooo three centuries ago. Still, Naruto could hear all the civilian girls going 'ooh' over the pretty horses. From the corner of his eye he could also notice more than one of them trying to get their nerve up to come over to Kiba; under his tattoos he was pretty handsome guy, Naruto supposed. Ordinarily Akamaru was a pick-up magnet for girls, but now they seemed nervous, probably because of the wheelchair. Naruto wanted to go over and tell them dog-boy would recover in a few months, but the way Kiba was now… it would just be wasted effort on their part. Maybe when the doctors cleared him to go stomping around on crutches he'd perk up enough? _

_ But now the Nobles had finished up their display, and the attendants were running out to pick up the targets and any loose missiles. Naruto had heard that the horses had been dosed to prevent any vulgar 'incidents' during the exhibition. According to the program he'd bought coming in the first bout was a juicy one; Hyuga versus Uchiha. Just the thing Naruto wanted to see, before there was much chance that (expected) unexpected circumstances had any chance to screw up the scheduled entertainment._

_ They'd gone over tactics so often that Naruto could hear traces of their discussions whisper through his thoughts. Training against Hinata-chan would give Sasuke an edge, or at least take away some of the edge Byakugan users usually had against those who had never had a chance to fight against their 'Gentle Fist.' It was too bad that except for a high level Shadow Clone, the Hyuga could pretty well pinpoint what was a living person, and what was just an illusion or disguise. Sasuke would have to fight the Creep (after hearing about his relationship with Hinata-chan that was the only nickname Naruto could give Hyuga Neji) heads up. That was going to be an eye-opener to those who thought Team Anko couldn't generate any face-to-face firepower!_

_ Even Kiba perked up and focused as the referee led the two contestants out onto the dirt floor of the Arena. Some arrangement had been made so the spectators could hear everything the ref, and the fighters, could say. Naruto fished a small telescope from his waist-pack; he'd decided to forgo the orange jumpsuit today, what with all the visitors and dignitaries. As he was bringing it up to his eye he saw Kiba leaning forward, and wheeling his chair to the very edge of the perimeter wall. Sighing, he tapped the boy on the shoulder and gave him the monocular. He probably should be keeping a wider field of vision, anyway._

"At the signal start, at the signal stop. Obey my instructions or be disqualified. No weapons or dangerous effects that carry outside of the arena area. There is no appeal for violations or their punishments, though a nice enough begging for mercy is never to be disparaged. Now separate by at least twenty paces, and I'll give the signal."

The two boys walked apart, turned to face each other, and waited. Sasuke did a few arm stretching motions, Hyuga Neji set himself in his battle-stance. His eyes became surrounded by a network of raised veins as his Byakugan was turned on. He noticed a particular blurring of the chakra signatures around the Uchiha's lower arms and legs. Some sort of armor, no doubt. The child thought that he could prepare for combat against his older and superior opponent.

"Begin!"

"On this day we will see," the Hyuga began, "which of the two supreme bloodlines of Konoha is superior. You, a member of the shattered Uchiha. I, a member of the flourishing Hyuga. Both of us called geniuses in our years at school. Now we will let Fate show who the true genius is, and the fall and shame of the Uchiha will be completed!"

Sasuke just shook his head for a moment; Neji was really as bad as Hinata had said.

"First, there are reports of at least one Eye-related bloodline that is superior to both of ours. Second, the bloodline of the Senju was, by popular acclaim, considered the most powerful at the founding of Konohagakure. Third, I don't think you are using the term 'genius' properly. Fourth, on any day Fate brings out a fresh scroll to write up the events to happen, nothing is known by any mortal in advance. And fifth, and last: I'm Sasuke. For good or ill that's who I am. Not some abstract Uchiha; Sasuke. And damn glad of it. Shall we...?" It seemed the Hyuga hadn't expected an actual reasoned response to his little monologue, and was stuck for a retort.

Yeah, Naruto thought, Hinata-chan had pegged her cousin perfectly. Sasuke's little prepared speech had hit all the highlights just right, and shown Neji as a pompous ass, and himself as a guy who had a clear head. When Sasuke won this fight there wasn't going to be any "Oh he can fight alright, but he doesn't show any maturity or leadership qualities worthy of promotion."

Waiting just a second longer, Sasuke shrugged, and then set off at his two-thirds speed toward the Hyuga. For most of the spectators he was basically a blur, to most of the genin it was blazing fast, and to the very best it was surprisingly fast. The last was where Neji could be placed, and he had plenty of experience with 'surprisingly fast.' That didn't mean it was ever easy.

At five meters distance Sasuke made a quick, one handed seal that compacted and smoothed the dirt in front of him. He went into a foot first slide, a faster way to hit a particular place than trying to run upright, with his legs cocked for a knee-breaker kick. Neji hopped up and over, to find there was a shuriken heading directly for his crotch. He blocked that with his left sandal, and was already twisting his body around to face the direction he knew his next threat would be coming from. He knew wrong.

There was already another shuriken in the air, coming his way. Until he was on the ground, and with some traction, he would just have to keep twisting to present the smallest possible area as a target. With his Byakugan activated he could see behind him, where the Uchiha had gone into a tumblesault sort of roll, and was already regaining his feet, even if temporarily facing the wrong way. And he was throwing another shuriken, over his shoulder, into roughly the right area with his off-hand.

Neji landed, squatting to dodge under the latest attack, when he felt a burning pain as the pointed piece of metal stuck in his left sandal was driven through the sole and into his foot. He staggered upright, trying to keep all of his weight on his right leg. Hopping on one leg was not one of the preferred postures for the use of any of the variations of the 'Gentle Fist' combat form. He tried to reach over and pull it out with his right hand, but saw a kuni twirling toward him, this one dead on target. He was certainly fast enough to block it with his bare hands; he had mastered 'Gentle Fist' techniques that not even most of the Main House had ever achieved. But mastering a specific form meant endless repetition: to get speed at it you do A and B and C and D, time after time, faster and faster. So you grow skilled and fast, but it also means that when you do A you will do B, and C, and D, without thought or hesitation.

For the proper position to block a kunai thrown at the upper right chest area you plant your feet, bend slightly to bring your right shoulder lower, and sweep your hand horizontally, fingers pointing up, across your chest. The significant thing in this case was: plant your feet. The first shuriken he had blocked was driven deeper into his foot, the uppermost point of Suna steel scrapping against a bone as it was driven up.

Neji bit back a groan and re-established a shaky balance on his right foot only. By now it would probably have taken a medic to pull the metal out of him without doing any further damage; feet have lots of small bones and muscles to injure. Meanwhile, the Uchiha was rushing at him even faster than before, but he'd now drawn a sword and was holding it for a diagonal slice into the left side of Neji's body.

The Hyuga managed to get a kunai into his hand, and blocked the surprisingly slow cut of the short sword. The Uchiha kept on moving past as the kunai was cut clear through; his eyes were still jet black, not Sharingan red.

Neji began reaching into his rarely used pouches and holsters for the sparse collection of kunai and senbon that he had always felt he had to carry, if only to show how little he really needed them. Perhaps if he had been Tamura Tenten he would have been able to keep the Uchiha away. Perhaps even get in a decent hit. But it had been over a year since he last seriously worked at his mid-range attacks, and his ammunition supply was limited. Certainly Lee was faster and more clever at dodging steel, but the Uchiha was the next best to Lee that Neji had seen in his age group, and it wasn't much of a contest in the current situation.

"I… I resign. But this lucky win means nothing. I will fight you again, and then Fate will give me the victory."

"Win for Uchiha Sasuke!" the referee announced.

"Are you sure, Hyuga Neji, that on the next day we fight, Fate will have a different story to tell? I've fought others from my class often enough, and some of them are tougher than you were. And don't get me going on the rest of my team!" Even when he was trying to be cool, Sasuke couldn't quite give up the opportunity for a good gloat, after the victory at least.

_Up in the Hokage's private box his guest, the Kazekage of Suna, turned and asked, "I didn't see if the Uchiha boy was using the Sharingan, did you?"_

_ His host, the Hokage of Konoha, sadly replied, "Uchiha Sasuke tries very hard, he's a very devil for work. But it is known that, unlike the Hyuga, not all the Uchiha ever develop the Sharingan ability. Still, he acts as an inspiration to others, who must get through life with only the talent they have labored to develop. I'm told he keeps cats, also."_

_ The Kazekage thought to himself dark thoughts of wasted time and agents exploiting his good nature with doctored reports and endless requests for bribe-money that had never been needed, or probably used. An Uchiha without the Sharingan, a Demon-Holder too weak to even make the Examination final… what had his old home come to? He had never felt more sure that he had made the right decision years ago to leave this small, backward, and regressing-into-obscurity little town._

As the area outside was cleared, and the boy from Suna with the flying puppets was being told to stretch his performance as the first bout had been resolved faster than expected, Uchiha Sasuke was talking in a low tone to his teammate, Haruno Sakura.

"A fluke, a damn fluke! I was just trying to keep him off balance until I got back on my feet, and he has to do a perfectly timed block and gets the damn shuriken stuck in his shoe. Go figure! All that preparation with Hinata on protective equipment and counter-moves and everything! And he walks into it fat, dumb and happy!"

"It was certainly Fate," his pink-haired teammate said portentously. "Fate," she said in her best prophet of doom voice, and then in her normal tones, "and working at keeping all your skills sharp, not just working on the newest things, and not relying on the cheapest cast iron shuriken, but actually getting high quality steel… and sharpening it obsessively. And being ready with Plan B in case Plan A didn't work. Hyuga had a great Plan A, and never bothered learning any Plan B stuff. Who's the better ninja, Sasuke-kun? "

He'd have blushed in modesty, if he hadn't completely agreed with her.

"Hey, Sakura, look at that guy from Suna. He's got two flying puppets that are doing spirals around each-other!" He pointed to the television screen; Sasuke didn't want her to miss the exciting part, so far, of the day's events.

_Mighty Guy, in the Candidates Room for the ostensible purpose of giving his student, Tamura, some final encouragement, smiled when he heard Haruno's little homily. It was what he'd been trying to teach Neji for over a year. Lee worked on every skill he could, Tamura didn't neglect her Ninjutsu or Taijutsu, and only Neji was willing to let the skills that had made him the top student in his year atrophy in favor of being strictly a user of the 'Gentle Fist.' Guy hadn't forgiven Team Seven for their killing of his best friend and perfect rival, Hatake, but he could acknowledge their having the proper spirit and dedication. He had been watching the battle closely, and the way it had played out had shown that Neji had completely misunderstood what was happening, and been unforgivably lax._

_ When he had seen the Uchiha heading right toward him in what looked like a direct Taijutsu assault, he had thought he had it wrapped up. Then his opponent had gone low, using the high line he had started with as only a feint. When the low line didn't work out, the Uchiha already had a missile in hand to prevent a counter-attack until he was ready for it. True, the actual final result had been the result of luck, but it had been the luck of the prepared and forethoughtful. Guy would be sure to point it out to his team when they next met together._

_ Meanwhile, his real duty was making sure that there wasn't any cheating going on between the contestants before they got out onto the field. And especially to prevent the Suna boy from just getting violent and setting things off prematurely. _

Sakura wondered if the genin, Oboro of Amegakure, would try to use their clone-spam/underground-hiding combination. She'd seen Choji counter it, and seen another genin ignore what his teammate had done similarly, and lose his bout. With two of the Ame genin making it to the Finals, working out a series of counters to what seemed their favorite technique had only made sense. Sasuke had gotten Plan Stilts, she was going with Plan D-in-D: Damsel in Distress. A cliché of course, but she'd be able to pull it off with practically no drain on her limited chakra resources.

The referee came in to lead them out into the noonday light. The stands were filled; she'd never been in front of so many people in her life. Wandering through the streets didn't get you tens of thousands of eyes looking only at you. She'd followed her own advice to Sasuke; strictly business-like clothes and keeping everything simple and professional. Perhaps she should have had a bandana on. Everybody must be thinking she'd dyed her hair pink. Mom's explanations about how she'd gotten that color hair had never made much sense. Was that a monkey in the bamboo thicket over to the left part of the arena?

'Pay attention, girl. Focus.'

Yes, the army of grey-clad regular clones slowly rose from the ground, but she kept her eyes on the one form that was sinking down into it instead. When she had become certain that the living opponent had gone underground, she ran into the pack of moping and ominous distractions. That was all they were, unless her opponent was getting a bit more original and sprinkling some clones with physical (and dangerous) elements in them. That was an idea; if she didn't kill this Oboro fellow, maybe she could wheedle out of him how to make so many regular clones so cheaply. Since they multiplied when they should have been dispersed by attacks their cumulative chakra costs could end up being enormous, unless the Ame genin had some superior way of handling things. Of course, to use her version she'd have to learn a physical clone technique, and be able to pay the costs for it also. No rest for the pink-haired; she would have to maintain her perfect control and build up double or triple her current reserves.

Once in the crowd, and safely hidden (she hoped) she performed the one act of ninjutsu she planned on using today. A simple, but very perfect henge disguise of… Haruno Sakura, but facing toward her back and not her front. Oboro would eventually pop-up, see which way she was looking, and then make his approach toward her back, which was really to her front, which would get him a very thorough ass-kicking when his "surprise attack" would be anything but. At least that was the theory.

In the milling crowd itself she noticed that the figures were… low quality. Not Naruto-at-the-Academy-self-extinguishing; but colorless, listless, and sort of murky and almost sketched in. That might be part of the reason so many could be made. They were also dumb, and kept shuffling along, and bumping into things. If all they bumped into was another clone of their own quality and low level of chakra, they just sort of shuffled to the side and kept on moving in aimless circles. But, if they happened to run into something more solid (except the ground; like all regular clones they were a made a little more solid on the soles of their feet), they had a good chance of popping. And then having two or three equally cheap and nasty copies coming into existence. In fact, just running into a more highly powered and better organized chakra structure, say a henge made to perfection by Haruno Sakura, there was a fair chance there would be a de-stabilization of the clone, and… What was more disturbing was that after enough of these encounters Sakura noticed that her own henge had become weakened and semi-transparent. It would soon be gone completely, and even if she applied a replacement one immediately she would still have the problem that she now didn't know if Oboro had gotten a view of her with the damaged disguise. Plan D-in-D was officially dead. Her location and orientation had to be considered compromised. She began to sprint out of crowd, desperately trying to figure out a new plan of attack, or whether to use the one she had seen used successfully.

_ "The first fight was so fast, while this is so boringly slow. It seems you here in Konohagakure have no middle speed," the Kazekage said._

_ Sarutobi saw the one spot of color down in the drab gray blob below suddenly shoot off, weaving her way between the multitude of dummies around her, until she was in the clear again._

_ "Well, you can hardly fault the girl for that. When he put up his obscuring screen, and then went underground, the genin from Ame set the pace. He __is__ staying down there surprisingly long, isn't he?"_

_ "Well, you know what they say, 'what goes down, must come up.' I see you've had the Arena walls reinforced with chakra, for the audience's protection no doubt. But is seems to have thwarted the girl's attempt to use the ploy the fat boy used before."_

_ "Akimichi Choji prefers to be called 'big boned'."_

Fine, just perfect! The walls around the Arena floor were sealed against chakra effects, including climbing. Well, she couldn't extend any parts of her for an attack anyway, and Sensei still hadn't been able to dig up any but the lowest powered and basic Lightning jutsus. So no imitating Choji after all. Time to go to Plan C… or was it up to D by now?

Every time one of those low-grade clones was dispersed it automatically reformed in triplicate, right? Fine; cheap they might be, but there must be some cost, and there was only one Naruto, the endless ocean of chakra! How to make that automatic feature cost more for the user than it would be for her to run around destroying them until she was exhausted? Child's play! She put the Quick Needle Launcher, Mark II, Type 7 onto her right hand.

She slipped a kunai out of the holster on her left thigh, and threaded and tied one end of her shorter coil of rope onto the ring on the end of the hilt. She began to swing it around her head in a tilted arc, letting the weight get further and further from her until it was at the full ten meters length making the low moaning sound of the Bullroarer. Made of a piece of flat wood, and tied with a string, a child's toy that could be delightfully destructive if the user wasn't careful about what was within the arc of its spin. With a sharp wedge of metal as its weight it was a ten meter radius circle of clone elimination. As she waded into the mass of grey shamblers they began to dissipate at first touch, only to multiply as quickly. But like soap bubbles they offered no real resistance. As long as she could keep her arm swinging the rope she could force the drain on the clone maker's chakra to continue. With her left hand she drew her short sword.

_"Is she's using a sound based technique to eliminate the obscurations? I thought that sort of jutsu was an Oto thing. Have you capturing some of their soldiers, and been putting them through interrogation?" asked the Kazekage._

_ In tones of complete sincerity the Kage of Konoha replied, "No, not at all. We're seeing some interesting lateral thinking here, not ninjutsu at all. You mustn't think that all problems have a chakra based solution; the girl is notorious for simply being smart. And her Jonin-Sensei has been working hard on her team of young menaces to get them to find ways knock down walls without using their heads as battering rams." _

Oboro heard a weird moaning sound approaching him. He couldn't see the Konoha genin from his place as he blended in among his multitude of clones. After a few minutes trying his Earth Release: Underground Projection Fish Technique, and realizing his popping up hadn't been getting him any closer to the strike position he wanted (he could see that the girl was intensely alert, no matter that she seemed to be only paying attention to her front) he had decided to try something different. Repeatedly sinking into the ground, moving and popping up again was tiring, so he had decided to just hide himself among his projections. But by the time he had managed to infiltrate back to her latest known position, she had gone somewhere else. Even hunched over, his Haze Clone technique creations had been tall enough to hide the young genin girl despite her colorful hair. If he straightened up he might be able to see her distinctive head, but then he'd also risk be spotted himself. As he heard the moaning sound get closer he decided to risk it; the bent posture seemed to be making him feel dizzy.

Suddenly the decision was taken from him. To his left front the clone crowd was disappearing faster than he could replace them. He dropped his jutsu in time to see some sort of long weapon, a staff or perhaps flail, coming at him in an arc. He jumped back, the edge of a blade cut the air a hand's-breadth from his chest. By the time he had gotten his balance back the girl had jumped forward, and he had to duck low as he jumped forward. Then crouch lower, or he would have been wrapped-up by some twirling rope or cord. From his nearly prone stance he tried scuttling forward, until he saw the sharp point of her sword glistening right in front of him. The only way to avoid being impaled was to throw himself to the right, and he somehow managed that before the girl could shift from a full thrust footing to a balanced one that allowed lateral attacks. The gyroscopic effects of the weight she was still twirling had put her off balance for that.

She tried to release the weight/rope combination so the blade tip would hit him, but she didn't have the experience with that sort of combination. The tip shot past him, the rope trailing behind it. A legendary ninja would have just caught the rope and turned the whole setup back at her, he wasn't nearly ready for that sort of thing. He started to go through the hand signs for a jutsu to make the ground under her become powdery and hard to move in. She raised her now empty right hand, made a fist, and he heard the sound of rippling thunder. Spiked clubs seemed to smash into his chest, and he staggered back a step, then he dropped face first to the ground.

At first Sakura only felt irritation at herself: 'I have to remember not to get nervous and empty the launcher all at one time. Nearly broke my wrist with that one, and now I'll have to reload the whole thing.' Then she saw the blood welling out of the holes in the young man's back, and cursed in a low monotone. She really hadn't wanted to kill him; now the whole Team Killer thing might start up again, after Sasuke had been so careful not to up his headcount… too much… in the Exams. "Stupid girl, stupid, stupid girl!" she said over and over as the referee yelled out "Haruno: victory by KIA!"

_ As the crew came out to pick up the debris and body; and to clear the area up for the next intermission exhibition, the Kazekage leaned over and commented to the Hokage that the girl seemed a tad… soft-hearted for a role as a true ninja._

_ "Ah, my friend," Sarutobi said in reply, "she said 'stupid,' not 'horrid' or 'cruel.' She's sorry she revealed one of her signature techniques this early in the bouts. I think it's touching, that she sets such high standard for strategic planning for herself. So many young folk just want to show off, when they should know that a ninja's first weapons are deceit and cunning." _

_ The Kazekage nodded at that._

"Two for two, Team Anko rules!" Naruto yelled into Kiba's ear. Despite wincing a little at the volume, the other boy nodded smiling. It did feel good to get away from his sick room, and watch his friends at work. He'd even once had a little bit of a thing for Sakura, but hadn't let the Sasuke fan-girl she had been at the time know it. Damn! If only he'd drawn that Ame guy to fight in the Forest preliminaries. Akamaru and he would have been able to sort him out from all his decoys with no trouble, and then they'd have beaten the tar out of him. Instead he'd had to draw the monster. This stirred a thought.

"Hey, Naruto, there's going to be someone fighting that Suna thing, ain't there?"

"Yeah, Shikamaru is. In fact he's going to be up next. I've been sort of workin' with him, you know, to get him ready. And the rest of our groups has been helping too."

Kiba didn't like thinking that someone he knew was going to be fighting the sand monster from Suna. Sure, Shikamaru was a lazy, arrogant, snide, and useless guy. He was still a friend, and you had to worry about how he'd survive. Depending on what Naruto could teach you for your most dangerous fight ever wasn't too reassuring. One of the few people that Kiba had regularly been able to beat at the written tests at the Academy had been Naruto. Shikamaru must have been desperate to appeal to him for help.

As the clean-up crew finished making sure that there was nothing left over from the Battle of the Marching Bands (Amegakure, Kirigakure, and Konohagakure) on the coming battlefield the next two fighters were called for: Gaara of Suna and Shikamaru of Konoha. Naruto came to his feet, and leaned against the railing on the Arena wall. If things went wrong (and he was worried that there was a good chance of that) he wanted to be able to just flip over the side and get down onto the combat area as quickly as possible. His plan for Shikamaru was very workable, if it was being used against someone who just wanted to win the fight and go forward to a promotion. Against Gaara…

_Ma looked at the program. Yes, after the Battle of the Bands the main event for the day came. "Gaara-the Sand Master vs Shikamaru of the Shadows!" Ma got up to get a drink; since the last desert he had crossed he always got a little thirsty when he thought about sand. Behind him trailed a small comet of his students, who had been sitting close hoping to hear words of wisdom from the old foreigner. Some were pondering his comments about the last fight; that the most important thing that they'd see that day was what they hadn't seen at the conclusion. One, Sakai Hotaru, thought what it meant was that they hadn't actually seen the finishing blow the girl had used, it had been too fast. If you could do that… trade strength for speed… wasn't that as much as anything else what the Fourth Hokage ("The Yellow Flash") had been famous for? He had been strong, of course, but he was known as the Yellow Flash, not the Yellow Avalanche, even though he had buried a lot of Iwa nins._

_ By the time they were all back in their seats, holding their various paper cups of snacks or drinks, Ma was uneasy. Something was wrong. It was… yes. Eighty years ago in Chang-en, just before the Plague Riots had begun. The same little patterns of small groups of people exchanging nods and collecting in groups where they could control movement and access to an area, preparing for their leader to give a signal. But who would be stupid enough to do that in a Stadium, in a town filled with ninja and the bodyguards of important rulers? _

_Other ninjas, of course._

_ "Miss Asahina, the right, Miss Sakai, the left, two meters from me in case something happens. 'Rosaries' ready. You others, give us room and provide support as needed. Just in case; and try to see why I'm telling you this. Look at the whirlpools in the stream." Ma checked the interior fold in his sleeve; it might only be a 12 centimeter butterfly knife, but if things got serious it was better than nothing. If only there had been some wooden seats he could tear up for a shield!_

_ The two girls changed their seating, then began to take clearing breaths and joined the other students in looking for patterns. It was Shun who finally whispered, as the contestants took their places below, "Konoha ninja up on the top level ramp entrances; they're eyeing some people over to their left, and below." Shun was good at noticing things, Hotaru thought. If only he wasn't always looking at her that funny way. Though he __had__ let her use the cushion he had brought to sit on… _

Nara Shikamaru was hyperventilating. He looked up to the stands and saw small knots of people he knew. Ino was up with some friends near the top level. Naruto was right at the edge of lowest one, looking like he was going to vault over the barrier there in an instant.

Meanwhile, the sand was flowing out of Gaara's jar, and somehow multiplying its mass and volume as it went. When it was about five meters away Shikamaru threw the first explosive-wrapped kunai at the point of origin. It landed a good meter short, and exploded without interrupting the endless flowing and spread of the sand. Frankly, it was a bit embarrassing; he hadn't missed a target by that much since his first year in the Academy. He was supposed to be showing he was nervous, but not that nervous; it wasn't part of the Script. He broke off and started running to the left, trying to make little darts in, toward his opponent, as if he was trying to get into better range for a hopefully better effort. By now though the sand had become a twenty meter radius circle around the Suna boy, and that was really as far as most people could throw accurately anyway. It made little waves at the point it was closest to him, but it would always fall away and recede after a meter or two. The ultimate limit of the technique's range, evidently. Or that was what he was supposed to think, anyway.

Well, time for Scene Two: A Bold Foray! He poured chakra into his feet, and suddenly jumped out onto the cloak of sand, using the same skills as water-walking or tree-climbing to keep on top of it, and prevent it from lapping up and trapping his feet. At least as long as he was moving fast enough. He sprinted to within five meters, saw a wall of sand suddenly appear blocking his way, threw a Kunai as hard as he could at the base of it, and gently lobbed a blob of clay wrapped in paper over the top. That one actually almost worked, the sand absorbed the knife with no effort, but only bothered to block the slow moving ball with a thin sheet, that was shattered when the fused exploding tag went off. By that time Shikamaru was long gone, it had looked too much like the sand behind him was getting clumped up to cover him with a solid wall, and he took off laterally at his best speed.

As a result, he didn't see when the protective wall directly in front of Gaara came down, revealing the boy with unfocused eyes of the concussed, and blood coming out from both ears. He did hear the incredibly loud bellowing and laughter though; it seemed far too much to be coming from the chest of someone so thin and young. But Shikamaru wasn't looking back until he had reached a portion of the Arena where the Sun had made long shadows from the roofed announcer's booth. Then he turned and noticed that shambling toward him was a five, then six meter tall mass that looked vaguely like a raccoon-dog (if you were sufficiently drunk) all made of sand, with a red-haired boy buried to his waist on its head.

As it entered into the shaded area Shikamaru used the family technique 'Shadow Imitation', with as much force as he could. It penetrated into the sand creature for a second, and then he felt as if he had been tugging at some cable with all of his might, and it had just come loose. Shikamaru fell backward, then rolled to his feet and started sprinting again as he hear the dry rustling of the moving sand come closer behind him.

'_Well,' thought Old Man Ma to himself, 'you don't see that every day.' He'd seen demons before, of course, but never a child actually turning into one in broad daylight. He turned to tell his students to ignore his previous comment on what was going to be the most impressive thing they'd see that day, when he noticed they had all fallen asleep. 'Not good at all.' He thought, and jumped to his feet with a roar, and began moving rapidly among them, slapping faces with carefully controlled power._

_ As the young ones snapped awake Ma looked around, at the general area. He saw a number of upright figures slipping those silly headbands on, and beginning to attack their neighbors with suddenly revealed weapons. The top level of the Important Visitors pavilion was enclosed in some shiny and translucent four-cornered covering, and groups of the local ninjas were moving about trying to get inside it, with not much success. One tried jumping in, and bounced back a charred corpse. Or at least Ma hoped a corpse… burns that bad never really healed or stopped hurting._

_ By now the first to recover of his students had gotten to the positions he had assigned them, and the girls had their 'Rosaries' in hand. They started to slow swing the half-kilo weights on meter and a half long chains, using only some of the length, leaving some in reserve. They were carefully using only their wrists. Sensei Ma had been insistent that all the motion be from the wrist, never from the shoulder or elbow. Link by link the weights were let out to their fighting length. The group followed Sensei's orders, heading to the nearest exit. _

_ On the top lip of the stands two men in civilian garb set off a rocket with multiple flares; two red and one green. They floated down on little parachutes, as small whistle-equipped mortar shells filled the air with high pitched screams, before landing on rooftops with occasional incendiary effects. _

_ Someone from the moving group yelled out, "Behind us!" Sakai Hotaru hopped up on a flat and empty stone seating row (all the former users lying unconscious on the floor in front of it), and ran to the back of the group. Her left 'Rosary' chain was caught and deflected by a man with a forehead protector marked by a stylized musical note. Her right one slipped past his defense and broke three ribs. Before he could fall, or scream, or do anything, a huge mass, moving very quickly, was in front of him, cutting his throat. The meter long jointed thrusting assegai the ninja had had in his right hand was disentangled from the girl's chain before his body hit the ground, and mumbling curses in a language no one else within five thousand kilometers could understand, Ma Joong, Third Colonel of the Imperial Guard Division (ret), moved back to the front of his little detachment to spearhead their march to safety. This time with something a little more re-assuring in his hand than the tool he used to sharpen quills and keep his nails clean._

_ They moved up an aisle to the exit that had been guarded by the group of Konoha ninja. Those were now working in groups of two, engaging the people who had been slaughtering the sleepers in the stands. Nearby, Ma saw a man even taller than he was, wearing a yellow armband, making water out of nothing, and waking people up with it, and then hustling them to the nearest exit. Looking around he saw a few others with the yellow armbands. Order was coming out of the chaos. Now the important thing was to prevent his group from being mistaken for some of the chaos-makers._

As soon as he saw the Suna boy start to generate the form of the Shukaku, Naruto had been over the railing and pulling out the two scrolls he had prepared, just in case. As he hit the ground below he sprinted to toward the center of the arena, finally throwing open one of the scrolls and yelling at his impressive loudest, "I summon you, the Three Oni's from Demonland!" and smacked his palm down on the ground. Then he looked up to see how his performance was being perceived. Instead of the hushed silence of those awed by the awesomeness, there was only silence, broken by the sounds of a few dozen people going around engaging in violence, and being challenged by a slowly growing number of Konoha ninja either reviving from genjutsu, or just getting their wits about them. Damn! Nobody had even seen his performance! And he had rehearsed so much!

From the billowing smoke rising from the opened scroll (Sakura-chan had worked so hard drying the fungus flesh so it would fume just right) rose three ogres; rangy, red Oni each three meters tall. Naruto flipped open his other scroll and three two-meter long iron clubs rose up, to be grabbed by their traditional users. They then ran at their best speed to where their assigned action stations were, but still trailing a blond-headed figure that was much less than their height.

Shikamaru wasn't quite trapped against the walls of the Arena; his stamina training, and all his work on the rare talent of Sand-Walking, had let him escape time after time from the sliding traps, and the sinking traps, and the quickly rising walls of sand that the One-Tailed had so often use to catch its prey. Shukaku was angry, frustrated that all of its glory and power and rage hadn't allowed it to crush and tear and drink into its sands the sweet blood of this mere human. Then the rhythmic shocks began, the sharp pain of dull matter against the delicate but ubiquitous strands of chakra binding up the otherwise isolate grains of sand. It turned its attention outward from its prey and saw, for the first time in a millennium or more, something new under the sun.

Three red humanoids, a fraction of its size, darting in and out and swinging thin, whip-like sticks that stung and bled off its precious psychic fluids. They weren't much more than a tenth of its mass, but they dodged like things that size never trained to do, and if a powered pseudopod of sand and chakra reached to grab one of them it would be smacked off by another one, and the chakra holding it together was lost. Too quick, too many, too… it was then that it learned that if having terriers nipping at its ankles was annoying; having a wasp sting its face was agonizing.

While his Oni distracted the One-Tailed Beast, Naruto had run up on an unengaged side, putting together a little bundle of death. Five linked explosive tags, with two flares added for the hell of it, were thrown high up the side of the towering Shukaku. The explosion three seconds later, with accompanying incendiary effects, was impressive. But except for making the now twelve meter tall creature roar louder than ever before it didn't seem to do the job. There was an answer for that.

A glancing blow knocked one of the Oni down; it quickly rolled out of the way of any more damage while the thin skin, made up of enough chakra to have created three Naruto-sized Shadow Clones, was destabilized enough to dissipate, bringing a message of pain back to its origin point. Each fake Summons was a hundred such layers, giving them great strength, and the ability to actually seem to endure being damaged. Instead, when something hard enough impacted the outermost thin membrane of chakra, that one just went away as usual. The work of making, or at least learning how to make them, had occupied Naruto for over a month. There were problems still to be worked out with them; they weren't actually nearly as strong as the amount of power that went into them should have allowed, but at least what there was was concentrated. And concentrated brute force was what was needed in this case. Nine hundred regular Shadow Clones wouldn't even have scratched the Shukaku. Three three-hundred-strength ones were inflicting the death of a thousand cuts, if they could last long enough.

Unfortunately, Naruto could feel it. He could do Three Oni (and make it seem a Summons so that people wouldn't have a real line on how much of his Chakra was actually being used), but currently Four Oni was beyond his means, without tapping into the Fox. And that was only for an emergency greater than he saw here. One that was undeniable life-or-death for all Konoha. Currently… he was concerned, not alarmed.

_Hyuga Hanabi crouched against her father's side, as the head of the Hyuga family tried to work their way to an exit. There was no difference in how he looked now from when he was teaching her how to use her 'Gentle Fist,' but behind him there were two of the hidden assassins moaning lowly as they coughed out their blood. Ordinarily she was so assured and confident, but real combat was something else from what she had expected. She was not prepared to see all that blood, and smell the stench of bowels released in death. There were far more of these suddenly-revealed killers visible than those wearing Konoha signs. And down in the Arena below there was a monster, still growing, and now tall enough to climb out as soon as it finished killing the boy who had dared to challenge it for the Chunin Test. _

_ She glanced back down, after Father had won them another two steps, and then had to stop as he guarded them against three of the infiltrators. That Boy, Hinata's Boy, was now down on the combat floor, and was leading a trio of tall creatures at the monster, or maybe he was chasing them… she couldn't tell. Someone screamed. Father grunted, and she turned her eyes back to her surroundings. Father's leg was bleeding, and another corpse rolled down the tiers of seats. The two remaining attackers spread out so that they could attack the mobility-damaged man at once. Each had a long and broad blade, fixed on a short shaft. "Catch the little white-eye; Oro-sama will pay good money for those eyes," one called out._

_ A moment later, just as it seemed they were going to do their rush in, the one on the right suddenly began to scream. He disappeared under a creeping hard flood of black, shiny pebbles, chittering as they seemed to eat through his flesh. As his bones began to show on his face, just before he fell, Hanabi began to scream._

_ The other began to turn, but a hand and arm thrust through his chest, the fingers a pointed blade. Suddenly Big Sister was there, nodding to Father, and stopping in front of Hanabi. She put her hand on Hanabi's chin, and closed her mouth. A slight, very strange smile was on her face, one that Hanabi had never seen her wear before._

_ "Now, now, Little Sister. We're ninja; no tears, no crying in battle. Follow Father; we have things under control."_

_ Then she kissed her baby sister on the forehead, and began to dance down the bloody, slippery stone benches to where an unarmed civilian was trying to defend his family from a killer. Hinata-chan flowed around the combat, dropping the armed invader without slowing, and going on to a battle further away. _

_ A boy in a green unitard finally managed to pull his arm back out of a dead man's chest. A young man in a swarm of the death-pebbles gave a quick bow (and thank all the Gods wasn't being eaten alive) and told a blond girl to escort Lord Hyuga and his daughter out of the stadium. Before Father could protest the two boys were gone, trying their best to join Hinata-chan. They seemed to slowly be catching up, because all the enemy in their path were already dying._

_ "Yamanaka Ino, Lord Hyuga. Just follow me, no arguments now! You can't be at your best with that leg, now can you? Gosh, Hinata-san is being so impatient today!"_

_ As they finally found an exit Hanabi looked back. She couldn't see her sister, or the floor of the arena. Just the Hokage's personal area surrounded by a huge, translucent box._


	15. Chapter 14

I do not own, or receive benefit, from the Naruto properties.

A Teacher's Glory: A Union of Rejects: Chapter 14

By Larry Huss

Uchiha Sasuke knew that down in the Contestants' Ready Room Mighty Guy, the Jonin, was neutralizing the last of the non-Konoha candidates for advancement. Until they could be sure of the stranger's intentions he would have to be kept in a harmless state. Two seating rows higher above Sasuke in the stands, Kankuro of Suna had been sitting, with Sakura chatting him up. From the sounds of things she had been just a little faster than the boy (originally a candidate, then a skills demonstrator, and now officially an invader) in reacting to what was going on. Sasuke heard her voice cry out, "Clear, sedative injected!" Now to figure out where they would be most useful; their action stations were undefined, due to not knowing exactly when things would kick off.

"A little help here, these damn puppets are heavy!"

He turned from his assaying of the situation, and went up to help her lug the flying and combat puppets (the ones the Suna genin had thought was so cunningly hidden in the tools and supply chest he had insisted was necessary for his between-fights demonstrations) to a utilities closet. Kankuro himself was already unconscious, wearing only a breechclout and wire-bound. Sakura had been merciful: he wasn't hanging from one of the supports of the next higher balcony. Doing that to someone wire-bound was a damaging form of torture, and when he was to be interrogated they wanted him to be in as good shape as he could be.

By the time they were done the Jonin Guy was there, with Tamura Tenten in tow.

"Youthful Uchiha, follow me. Cute Haruno, Go to exit East 2; there will be a party of politicals, civilians that need to be escorted to the emergency shelters. Important people, Daimyo's relatives. When you've done that, you're on guard post there. Tenten, report the situation to Jonin Yamanaka at the Hokage Tower. Move!"

Regretfully, Team Seven split up. At a run, Sakura ascended to her post, where perhaps a dozen richly dressed middle-aged men and women, and three wounded bodyguards, showed up a few moments later. Two of the bodyguards had heads with Oto headbands tied to their waists. That encouraged Sakura; Sensei had said it was always better to work with professionals, and not be stuck with some ceremonial guard detail. She had reloaded her right hand Quick Needle Launcher, this time with poisoned needles. Now she slipped her Quick Needle Launcher (Mark II, Type 3) onto her left hand. She checked it. Yes, those weren't practice rounds in it now. She was ready for the party to go wild.

As she led the group out of the Stadium, she glanced back. The Suna Demon was easily visible above the first few levels of seats; little crimson gnats seemed to be attaching it at ground level. The Hokage's VIP box area was enclosed behind a glassy looking violet-colored barrier. Some sections of the seating area were being evacuated in an orderly manner; others had a confused mass of panicking civilians trying to get out, and hampering their own efforts. The infiltrated slaughter-teams were either down, or being engaged by sufficient numbers of Konoha ninja; or by the several Auxiliary Militia that were scattered around the stadium. She was certain that she could almost recognize one by description, even at this distance. Time for that later, first the assignment. Haruno Sakura led her first individual mission party towards safety.

_With her Byakugan activated, Hinata saw everything_. _He was down there, glowing like a furnace. From her position at the edge of the second level of the Stadium's overlapping seating Hinata saw His constructs slowly beating on the Demon, little static sparks of chakra scattering with each strike of their clubs. And he was keeping all of its attention on himself, his chakra-covered sword cutting and stabbing while he threatened it with more of his burning and explosive tags. It roared and smashed its waves of sand, its limbs changing length and size unpredictably, and Naruto kept on dodging, and being missed by the thickness of a leaf. He was smiling._

_ She saw Shikamaru. He had gotten himself to a safer position, no longer in danger of being trapped against one of the Stadium walls. He seemed to be trying to do some odd jutsu, with wide and wild motions of his arms instead of just using his fingers. When he saw he had caught her attention he began to make Battle Sign, the sign language of Konoha. Every village had their own version, taught as a basic way to do silent communication. He was signaling to her, she realized, but it was hard to see exactly what he was saying. She let her Byakugan fall away. Things were clearer then. _

_ She sped up to the highest level of the seats… they called them the Perches, because it was said they were there for birds needing someplace to rest, after they had flown up so high. She ran on the guardrail rim until she was as near as possible to the Demon, and a few meters higher. Her arm shot out in confirmation. She could do it, she __would__ do it! She wondered again why actual combat was so much more relaxing to her than being on display in front of Father or a teacher. _

_ Hinata reached into the left thigh pocket of her shorts; took out the thick wad of explosive and incendiary tags Naruto had given her as a thank-you gift for helping train his teammates. She chain linked them, and set a four-second fuse. She tossed the package underhand, lofting it just a little bit, and ran up the tiered seats, and to the left, toward the exit ramp. She was knocked off her feet when the package she had tossed went off in a deafening roar. She scrambled up, not heeding the bruises she had just gained. She ran to the down ramp; she had to get at least three levels lower for her attack. _

_ Finally at the right level, she skidded into the aisle that led to the edge of the level. When she finally was at edge she could see the kneeling Demon below. Every time it tried to get to its feet Naruto, now gleaming red with the odd chakra from behind the seal in his stomach, would hit it with a burst that would stagger it. _

_ Hinata wouldn't waste her chance; she sprinted back upward ten rows of seating, here just rows of open backed benches. Hopping up onto a bench she pumped chakra into her legs, and ran downward with all her speed, Byakugan activated, until from the second row from the edge she jumped, hitting her mark on the guardrail perfectly and soaring up and outward like a skipping stone going for its furthest distance. She was falling, just too long, and then the Demon lurched itself a little more upright so that her outstretched right hand could just grab onto the half-embedded boy's torn and scorched shirt, and so she stopped herself from tumbling down the steep contours of the Demon's hide. She scrambled up to the half exposed torso; Gaara shoved his right hand at her, his fingers crudely formed into a spear point. He had seen how it was done, but why would the Master of Sand have practiced that attack, and who would dare be either his partner or taskmaster at learning it? As the Demon began to send tendrils of sand out to catch and strangle her she knocked Gaara's hand aside, and took her aim. He was still gathering his wits together, while __she__ knew exactly what she was there for, and was far faster. Her left hand shot out, touched the tenketsu point that was on the path between the brain and the heart, the path that said 'beat that I may live.' The pathway that would never again respond for Gaara of the Sands, Gaara the Cursed, Gaara the Victim._

_ The band of sand around her left ankle tightened, twitched, and spasmed, tossing her out and away, as something basic began to go wrong with the One-Tailed Demon Beast Sukaku's relationship to the physical world. The chakra seal that had confined, tortured, and defined it for so many unthinking years was broken. Like a sailor too long at sea, unable to control his motion when off of his vessel, Shukaku… collapsed for a moment. And then, like a balloon, its outer form burst and its inner nature jetted out into the wide world; to stay together or disperse, no living human could foretell._

_ Hinata fell, and hit the ground rolling, just like they had said you should in the Academy. As her body made contact with the hard-packed sand again and again her left ankle kept sending jolts of pain that made her grunt, until she finally stopped, face down in the dirt with all the breath knocked out of her._

_ Before her whirling head had completely steadied itself she felt herself picked up, and gently turned until her head rested like an infant's against a wide red chest, two meters above the ground._

_ "Move soft," Naruto said to his Oni, having noticed how Hinata's foot was unnaturally turned. "Take her to someplace safe and guard her; leave when she's in good hands._

_ "Hey, Hinata-chan! You've got your hero papers stamped now, taking down a Jinchuriki like that! Shika and I saw it! You floated like a dandelion seed, and then Wham! I gotta go see what mess the Old Man has got himself into this time, but I'll catch up later!"_

_ With that he was off, with two of the red giants he had made, as the one (with its great club tucked under the thongs holding up its loincloth) carried her to the entrance to the medical center for the Stadium. For a second she saw Shikamaru's head flipping back and forth between her and Naruto, before the boy sighed, and headed off at a sprint after the blond dynamo._

Uchiha Sasuke promised himself a nice long nightmare, and a properly scheduled screaming session, when this was all over. In front of him was the charred corpse of the dutiful but rash ANBU who had tried to push through the barrier jutsu, and had been bounced out when he had got half-way in. He was all burnt clear-through, though. The Tiger mask was heat-cracked, but Sasuke couldn't make himself look at what was oozing through the breaks. He had thought he was hardened, but evidently he still had his limits. As he glanced at the Jonin besides him he noticed a slight greenish twinge to Guy's complexion. Yes, everybody evidently had their limits.

Vaguely, through the purple sheen of the barrier, he could see trees, which was weird, the enclosed area being basically a pavilion on a rooftop. Sasuke started to walk around the perimeter. As he passed he saw several ANBU attempting various techniques supposed to destabilize the roofed enclosure. At the cry of "Duck!" he looked up, and ran thirty meters at top speed. A smallish dragon-shaped form, made of translucent water, rammed itself into the purple wall he had been following. The wall seemed to wiggle and wobble a bit, but then steadied and became rigid again. A tall man with an Auxiliary Militia armband standing near an opened water main began cursing with volume and originality. Sasuke supposed the Stadium was too far from the river for a full sized Water Dragon to be raised up. A pity, that; it looked like the volunteer might have been onto something.

Sasuke continued his trip around the perimeter. When he finally came to a corner he saw someone in there, rigidly holding an open-armed pose. The person seemed to be encased in a sort of bubble of the same sort as the exterior wall of the barrier. There should be something that could be done with that. Now he just needed Sakura or Naruto to… damn. On the off chance that something harder than water would do a better job of penetration he slipped a kunai into his hand, and did his best to throw it at what he was certain was a lynchpin of the barrier structure. There was a miniscule spark of reaction as the knife bounced back. There were possibilities then, but Konoha had a valuable asset inside, and the plan A that first suggested itself would endanger that.

He felt a huge burst of Killing Intent hit, and then trail off. As he couldn't see any huge waves of sand lapping up, or giant heads peering down on the situation, it probably meant that Naruto and Shikamaru had done something useful with the Suna Demon. Good. One less distraction.

Sasuke trotted back to where he had started from. He felt a little resentful. He'd have to do this without Naruto's insane lateral thinking, or Sakura's absolute intellectual acuity. Sure, there were a bunch of more experienced and knowledgeable Chunin and Jonin around. But from the way they were all standing around being frustrated it was evident that experience and common knowledge really weren't doing a lot of good right now. Dull sounds of massive combat, and indistinct shapes of powerful attacks were dimly coming through the barrier. The Hokage, from what Sasuke heard, was supposed to be all alone in there, and somehow was facing three or four opponents. It wasn't time for the Hokage to die, not now. He still had to answer some questions; he wasn't going to escape that easy. So the current mission was clear: Save him.

Naruto, and two of his Oni, arrived. Him huffing a bit. He was waving his hands around, as if to cool them off, and in fact pulled his canteen off of his belt and dribbled water first on one hand, and then the other. "Got carried away with the Flood back there, had to dig a bit too deep. You know."

Sasuke did, and winced a little. Naruto had had to use the Fox's chakra, at least a little. He didn't have perfect chakra control under the best of conditions, and having to use gouts of the Fox's evidently was even worse; there were blisters starting to swell on his finger tips. Chakra Flood had never really been a major contender for breaching the violet walls anyway. It would have meant Naruto coming into contact with them… not a good idea.

"Hinata managed to croak the redhead. That worked just like we thought it would. Kicked the Demon clear out of the arena, maybe the world, for a while. And since Shika didn't do that, he can't get any blame for the diplomatic stuff going bad, as if that mattered anymore."

One of the Oni must have become bored at that point. It swung its club as if it was trying to beat down a door. The major result was a nice smooth melted surface where the iron had hit its target, and the Oni being knocked back onto its arse. Naruto winced: "I think it lost like five that time."

Naruto looked down then, at the overdone ANBU, and got an odd look on his face. Sasuke followed his gaze. He began to talk softly.

"I must have gotten hit on my head today, and didn't notice it. I'm actually following your reasoning."

"Yeah. The guy's fried, his clothes are burnt, his mask is all cracked, but-"

"The handcuffs that he carried, because ANBU has to be able to subdue high level chakra users-"

"Are all nice and shiny-like, because it's all specially made to not get affected by chakra, or let any get used by the guy who's wearing the bracelets. That gotta be important somehow."

Sasuke dashed off to where he saw Guy talking animatedly with the Wolf and Beetle ANBUs.

"Jonin, excuse me, but this barrier is constantly being maintained by people in its corners, correct?" Sasuke asked.

Ordinarily Guy would have reprimanded a mere genin for interrupting a conversation between superiors. But he was unable to see how answering the boy's question was going to waste any more time than they were doing anyway. And in the last few days he had been reminded that the orthodox ninja ways were not the only solutions to the mysteries of the universe anyway. He nodded.

"So, Sensei, if one of the people loses their concentration sufficiently the barrier might collapse?"

Guy nodded again. Then he elaborated to the genin, instructing him in a calm and measured tone: "But the nature of this jutsu is that there is a barrier of equal strength inside that protects the casters from being attacked by those they have enclosed. You may be sure the Hokage knows at least as much about the situation as we do, and there is no way to attack and disable any of the casters of the jutsu. Still… I'm glad to see that you are thinking, youthful genin. If you have another idea, don't hesitate to let us know. I applaud that you have not become despondent under our current quandary!"

As that the Jonin turned back to the ANBU, or at least started to, Sasuke had immediately begun to not hesitate with another idea.

"If you give me all the handcuffs from the ANBU we may be able to attack one of the cornerstones of the jutsu. They must be chakra suppressing, chakra resisting, right? I mean the handcuffs must be?"

Guy, Jonin of the Leaf, had his eyes go wide for a second, then he gave a quick bow to one greatly his professional inferior and began ordering the ANBU nearby to immediately hand over their equipment that had been treated for chakra suppression. A few started to argue with someone not of their department who was trying to order them around, but their team leader (ANBU were promoted strictly on merit and performance) caught the idea quickly, quieted them, and confirmed the order. Soon there was an odd linked chain of over a meter in length of wrist-holding parts interlocked, with the pieces of chain between them giving a sort of awkward articulation.

Again Guy gave a quick bow to Sasuke.

"Please, allow me to attempt the attack, young warrior. I realize your youthful desire to carry out your idea, but I have spent some time practicing with weapons very like this, and if you do not feel that you are especially well qualified, it might be best if I take the lead at this time."

Sasuke had really wanted to do it himself… who wouldn't? But Guy was a Jonin, and a genin wasn't going to win many arguments with one of those. And, of course, Sasuke had never tried anything like this before, and Guy was well known as pretty much a master at most of the close combat styles. Sasuke nodded, trying to keep his resentment out of his face.

"Everyone, go back at least ten paces, but be ready to advance if the barrier goes down," Guy barked out. Everyone with any sense did that immediately. After a few experimental swings, to get the feel for the linkages and the weight, the Jonin began running toward the nearest corner of the violet barrier. At what he calculated was the closest point to the enemy inside the barrier he swung his weapon (flail, nunchucks, or just improvised object of desperation), the knuckles of the hand holding it barely missing the violet wall.

There was a sudden bright flash of light, and then the voice of Jonin Guy gone shrill and high as he, for the first time in anyone's memory, cursing a blue streak with all of his agonized strength. The barrier suddenly changed from a rectangular one to a triangle, and then collapsed entirely as the sudden uneven strain disrupted the careful balance that had sustained the almost impenetrable walls. Lying on the ground was a massive youth, with light-colored hair in a strip down the center of his head, and two others just over his ears. He was screaming something indistinctly, as there was glowing red-hot metal imbedded in his face. As Sasuke moved past him, the Oto invader's clothing started to smoke, then flare up as the steel chain that lay across his chest ignited the linen shirt he was wearing.

There was a mass of trees ahead, and as he dodged between them to where he heard the sound of combat Sasuke started to wonder exactly what was he doing there. Anyone who could keep with the Hokage was certainly going to be far out of his league. As he slowed down for a second to work things out he saw a flash of blond hair up ahead, and began to sprint again. Somebody had to look after Naruto when he did something foolish, and that's what teammates were for.

_Naruto wondered why the biggest fights always seemed to find him unprepared. Or else went on too long. He was trying to prepare himself to become Hokage, and Sensei had seemed to be encouraged by how hard he was working. Was she just being nice to him, humoring him? Or was there something even worse going on; was the truth that for when things were really important nobody was ever __really__ prepared enough? After all, if Grandfather Hokage hadn't wrapped up this fight yet, it must mean that even __he__ hadn't been fully ready for it. That idea was scary, that every time you got better it just meant that you just moved up into the sights of a more dangerous level of opponent._

_ Anyway, there was the Hokage, wielding an iron staff taller than himself, trying to hold his own against two guys who looked oddly like they belonged up on the giant monument that towered over the village, and someone who was partially dressed like the Kazekage of Suna, but who's face didn't resemble the one Naruto had seen up in the VIP box before everything went even crazier than they had planned for. _

_ One of the Oni rushed toward a stranger dressed in a style from fifty years ago only to be impaled by a rapidly growing plant that skewered it through the leg, lifting the red clone up twenty meters before the plant's growth stopped. Twenty of the plies of Chakra it was made of dissipated before the damage of that piercing was contained. Not good, not good at all. Behind him Naruto could hear the sounds of combat, and pain, coming from where the advancing ANBU came across the invaders who had set up the barrier._

_ The man still dressed in the remnants of the Suna robes of State held himself back from the battle, he seemed to have something to get off his chest: "Well, my old Sensei, don't think that your ANBU will rescue you. Your resurrected predecessor and his brother feel no pain, will heal all injuries, and no longer have the weakness of human remorse or emotion. My command to them is kill the Hokage Sarutobi. Don't stop until he lies dead before you, then-" _

_ At that point a very tall man with a militia armband rudely interrupted with a powerful straight punch that required immediate evasion, and the level of talk dropped as the level of dodging, kicking and slashes with knives rose. After ten seconds, and twenty exchanges of attacks, the two were separated by five meters, and glaring at each other. Suddenly the invader opened his mouth impossibly wide, and a thick tongue, its end wrapped around the hilt of an archaic style sword came out, and tried to impale the militiaman. Naruto had to give the man credit, he was fast enough to keep the blade from gutting him, even though the end result was only marginally better. The man was pinned by the blade against the bole of one of the unnatural trees, and there was no way he was going to move without the sword being withdrawn, or losing his right shoulder._

_ Extensible body parts, weird foreigner… that sounded a little too familiar. "Hey, bastard!" Naruto yelled as he drew his kodachi and began to run at the man he was sure had once posed as a genin from Kusa. The invader quickly ran through a series of one-handed signs, and then began to send a message in Konoha Battle Sign: 'Kill my enemy, slave.'_

_ Everything that Naruto had been told about the Bite flashed through his mind, and he came to an abrupt stop, then walked to the injured militiaman with his sword held high, stopped in front of the man, and charged his sword with his sharpest cutting-wind technique. He cut down with all of his strength, yelling "Got ya'!" as he sliced deep into the tongue. At this point it was only as thick as his wrist, though as tough as a hawser. It parted with a wet slurping sound. As it fell it began to turn itself into a speckled snake, but before it could even hit the ground Naruto had the point of the kodachi into its body and slashed open its belly as he flipped it away into the woods around him. Behind him Naruto could hear the high pitched and loud scream of a great beast being tortured. _

_ Naruto whirled around, ready for an instant defense, but all that was happening was the bleeding tongue was being hauled in, hand over fist, and tucked back into the enemy's mouth. Suddenly Naruto was knocked to the side as the man he had just rescued brushed by him, with the sword that had wounded him now held in the hand of his uninjured left arm. Whoever he was, he was certainly game. Naruto shot to his feet and followed him; it wouldn't do to let a civilian go into danger while a Konoha ninja held back._

_ The fake Kazekage, Orochimaru (Naruto was sure of that now), dodged a lightning fast slash from the civilian, only to run into a quick kick. Not powerful, due to the lack of set up time, but that militia guy was __very__ good__to have landed it at all. That was when Guy the Jonin showed up (with a bandaged hand) and Sasuke announced his presence by letting loose with one of his Fire Lance things, and nearly nailed and barbequed the invader. He evaded the fire by using Shunshin, chakra-enhanced speed, and his only problem was that in the cluttered battlefield that left him few options for a destination. The one he chose resulted in a collision with Naruto. _

_ Before the boy could respond, a hand had been rammed into his abdomen, and the force of the blow propelled him backward, like a pebble hit by a hammer. As he flew back Naruto naturally enough folded around the fist, resulting in the kodachi (still sharpened and lengthened by the wind chakra Naruto had covered it with earlier) cutting down on the shoulder of the snarling imposter. That probably helped save Naruto from having something weird and unpleasant happen to him in a follow up attack, as the enemy twisted in pain and pulled back to get the blade out of his flesh. Before that was completely accomplished, Guy had managed to change his trajectory and piled in, feet first, onto the invader's back. The impact was more of a drumbeat than a mere thud._

_ As the bodies caromed off of each other, Naruto landed heavily and began to vomit uncontrollably. He missed the next few seconds of the fight; when Sasuke managed to get enough of a lead on the fake Kazekage and seared his legs, and the militiaman came within a hair of decapitating the invader. By the time Naruto was able to get to a kneeling position Sasuke was besides him, holding him up, and the enemy had seemingly decided that the locality had gotten entirely too hot and dangerous to stay around any longer. _

_ As Guy and the civilian went off to help the Hokage in his battle, joining the ANBU who had already reached him, Sasuke pulled out his canteen to give his teammate a sip of water. Naruto just used it to slosh the bitter taste of puke out of his mouth, and spit it out._

Shikamaru was breathing surprisingly easily as he followed the nearest group of ANBU into the unnatural forest in the skybox. They were going hell-for-leather to where the Hokage was involved in bitter combat with the traitorous Suna Kazekage. Shikamaru decided that that battle was probably a bit too rich for his blood, and looked for something more manageable he could do. Ask and it will be provided; a definite foreigner with massive burns on his body, and with one eye seared out, was rising to his feet. He was bulky enough to be an Akimichi, but his skin was becoming mottled with a pattern of dotted lines, and his body was visibly gaining muscle mass.

Shikamaru checked… no militia armband showing, so the foreigner was hostile. Or at least would be treated as such.

Shikamaru pivoted as deftly as he could, and avoided being trapped in a suddenly appearing earthen dome that came entirely too close for comfort. He ran back the way he had come until he was at the edge of the changed area, then stopped and turned. Yes… the invader was limping his way in to the battle. No innocent there; he'd attacked a Konoha ninja. Shikamaru took two deep breaths, and got as calm as he could manage, then charged back into the fray, radiating as little Killing Intent as he could manage. He stayed toward the left flank of his target, the one with the damaged eye unless the strange transformation had already healed that injury.

Three long steps behind his quarry, Shikamaru pulled the last kunai out of his right-hand weapons holster, and plunged it in as he went past. Instead of it disappearing its full length into the enemy's body, it went in barely the length of a finger joint, and stood quivering, as if it had been stuck into an oaken plank.

The unexpected resistance had knocked Shikamaru off of his stride, and he took a tumble, briefly thanking whatever odd jutsu had put a layer of vegetation down over the stone structure of the Stadium. He got to his feet as the enemy finished reaching awkwardly back toward the dagger stuck in its back. Shikamaru immediately launched into the hand seals for the Shadow Imitation technique… there was more than enough in the way of shadows in this forest for that. He felt his jutsu bite; succeed in taking over the enemy's body. But there was a constantly rising tide of chakra in the target, and Shikamaru wasn't sure how long he'd be able to hold on. Seeing the kunai still loosely clenched in his enemy's hand Shikamaru tightened his own, empty, left hand.

Still lying prone on the ground Shikamaru brought his left hand over until it was right in front of his right eye, and lined it up as his jutsu made his puppet do likewise. He heard, dimly, someone shouting, "No, no!" Then he pulled his hand harshly back, punching himself in his own eye. His victim did likewise, except the kunai blade entered first. Shikamaru twisted the hand pressed against his face back and forth for a few instants, until he felt the link to the foreigner break at his death.

Shikamaru got to his feet and walked over the corpse, pulled the knife out of the eye socket, and then cut the enemy's throat, just in case. Then he frisked the body, collected a few more tools of the ninja trade (he had used most of what he started the day with, down in the Arena) and started walking in the direction of battle.

_ "I think we won that one," Sasuke said. _

_ "Kusa genin," Naruto ground out._

_ For a second Sasuke had a blank look on his face, and then a dawning comprehension blossomed. Yes, it was very likely that they were facing the false genin from the Forest of Death, and this time it was __him__ who was running away. _

_ Naruto continued, getting his breath back even as he spoke, "I think he made, like, two super-zombies outa the first two Hokages, and told them to kill the Old Man. He said that they don't get tired, or messed up for long if they're hit. Got two ways to handle that, but I'm not sure if we can pull it off. Oh, yeah. Before the bastard pulled out he gave them one instruction: Kill Sarutobi. That's all. I __know__ we can use that, but just not how!"_

_ All right, Naruto had been hit pretty hard, landing like that it was no wonder his wits had gotten scrambled a bit. Except, the Senju clan was notorious for their use of growing plants and things. And there was a forest that hadn't been there before on top of a building. So Naruto's wits probably weren't __that__ scrambled after all._

_ Naruto got his deep thinking look for a moment, the one that had made him a menace to good order and education back in the Academy. _

_ "If I can talk to jiji for just a minute, and you guys distract the zombies I think we could do something like the Nara Gambit. Because those zombie things ain't got their hearts in this, so to speak. Oh, and stop attacking when it looks like they start winding down. That's important!"_

_ Sasuke was unusually lost by Naruto's explanation. Usually when he had some tactical plan they had time to thrash it out together, and eliminate Naruto's more theatrical (and often impractical) bells and whistles. But it wasn't as if they had a lot of time here, and losing the Hokage in the middle of this attack on the village would be the surest route to total confusion and defeat._

_ Rushing at his best speed to Guy, Sasuke managed to blurt out that they'd have to double-up their efforts for the next few minutes, there was a plan in effect to counter the strange ninja with the powerful jutsus that were attacking the Hokage. And also that when the enemy stopped, not to start up the fight again, lest it ruin the plan. He didn't tell them that it was Naruto's plan; only the team knew the real Naruto. To everyone else he was just an annoying prankster that had finally managed to calm down a bit._

_ Telling Guy that it was time to turn things up a notch was more effective than Sasuke had expected. Anyone else performing at the level the Jonin was would have been operating at the limit of an extremely competent master-class ninja. And then there was Guy, who seemed to have followed the ancient wisdom that the person who is able to throw the last reserve into a battle, was likely to be the victor. The man stopped for a second, muttered "Let Two Gates open," and began to glow with a purplish aura. Then he was off at an insane speed to confront and stop the attacker that looked too much like the image of the First Hokage that was carved on the cliff above the village._

_ Seeing this, the large Auxiliary Militiaman got a huge grin on his face and tried to take down the other overpowered revenant. They began a war of violent Water Release attacks on each other. The rest of the Konoha ninjas, even as dedicated and talented as they were, took a chance to catch their breaths. At the speed things were in the fights, going on any help they might have offered would have likely ended up hitting the wrong man. Sasuke, knowing more about what was going on, kept his eyes on the wider picture, and saw that Naruto had reached the panting Hokage, and was talking to, and half-supporting the old man._

_ Sasuke felt that no matter how good the civilian was, or what unexpected levels of power Guy could draw on, sooner or later something special would be needed. Even though he knew he wasn't really ready for it, he prepared to use the Mangekyo Sharingan. Scared as he was in this battle, there was an undeniable current of joy surging within him. __This__ was what it was to be running free and without limits!_

_ The civilian finally was a second too slow dodging a lightning Jutsu that was shot into his still building Water Dragon. He was propelled backwards as if he had been kicked by a bull. Before he landed, before the 'crack' of breaking bones had died out, Sasuke was in the path of the enemy, keeping him from closing in on the Hokage._

_ His advanced Sharingan twirling, Sasuke caught the eye of the merciless and invulnerable warrior, and held that gaze for three seconds, pouring all his skill and chakra in sending an illusion of fear and pain into the trapped mind. Finally, it was as much the fact that his opponent was not really a being in charge of its own will, as his own youth and limited chakra supplies, that led Sasuke to collapse, blood running from his eyes, and a loud ringing in his ears. As he passed out, on his way to unconsciousness, he heard a scream and a shout: "He's dead! My Hokage is dead!"_

_The creatures that wore the faces of the First and Second Hokages turned their heads, and saw a short boy kneeling besides the form of Sarutobi Hiruzen. There was blood running from the old man's mouth and ears, and no rising and falling of his chest. The long iron staff that had fallen from his hands disappeared in a puff of smoke, and a giant clothed monkey stood there, at least two meters tall on his bent legs. _

"_Goodbye at last, my old friend. You never faltered, or dishonored our compact. I hope I shall find a worthy successor to you."_

_With that the massive creature disappeared with a puff of smoke, and went back to wherever Summoned and Contracted creatures went off to._

The blond haired boy looked at the two unnatural beings left behind by Orochimaru, and stilled his rage and anger.

"You're like, risen from the dead, right?"

The one who looked like Senju Hashirama, First Hokage of Konoha, felt the iron control of his master slip a little, as the command that he had been given was now fulfilled. He nodded.

The boy asked another question, "And that's why we burn bodies and stuff, so ya' can't get called back by bastards like… that guy?"

There was another nod.

"Well then, there ain't nobody gonna do to him what happened to you. Oni! Burn old Grandpa, and take his ashes away to where they won't ever be found!"

Two red-skinned giants came forward, stepping around the invaders, and walked up to the fallen leader. They put their hands out over the corpse and began to chant in an unknown language. Flames began to flicker up from the body, and then in that vast pulse of fire and smoke they, and the corpse, disappeared, not even ashes were left behind.

All that they had been told to do had been accomplished. The victims of grave-robbing and necromancy had completed the purpose they had been raised for, and now had no orders, nothing left to keep them active, no reason to exist. Slowly they began to flake, pieces of dried flesh, no longer animated by chakra controlled by their dominated will, began to fall off. Carefully to feel no anger, only pity and sorrow, Naruto slowly walked toward them, thinking to himself, 'It coulda' been my dad that got raised too. It coulda' been him.'

The disintegration of the undead continued. Naruto began to collect their falling remnants, almost reverently. He slowly put them into piles, and then motioned toward one of the ANBU who stood off a little ways to come over. At his request Wolf-mask set the piles on fire, as Naruto continued to bring over the detritus.

From under where the stolen form had been, the mottled flesh of the recently killed and chakra-bruised sacrifices that had been the base on which the abominations that the forbidden technique had created appeared. As he went around the bodies, recovering their remains, Naruto noticed a kunai with an attached and complicated seal tied to the shortened hilt. He paused for a moment in thought, then swallowed the lump in his throat and pulled the knife out of the revenant on the right. It dropped to the ground, a puppet with its strings cut, a corpse of a young woman made into the base for an abomination. Satisfied, he did the same with the other standing corpse, and watched it fall. At his gesture the bodies were collected and burned, while other members of the ANBU crew gathered the wounded and brought them to where medical attention could be given.

Then, at the end, Sarutobi Hiruzen slowly rose out of the ground where he had hidden while Naruto's little play had been performed by Shadow Clones, including one of his own. While waiting underground he had suppressed his own chakra signature, so that when all the Clones dispersed it would have seemed to any chakra sensitive observer that the last lingering impression of the Hokage Sarutobi had left the world. Just another little perfectionist touch of "The God of Ninja."

_Akamaru trotted proudly at the front of the small band working their way toward the Inuzuka compound. There were blotches of red on his white fur, but from his springy step you could tell the blood wasn't his. A half-dozen steps behind there were four girls and an injured ninja being pushed in a wheelchair. Despite the pain of his re-injured body, Inuzuka Kiba wasn't nearly as depressed as he had been an hour ago. That was because his hands were sticky with the blood of the enemy infiltrator he had killed, after thrusting himself by arm power alone from his chair. Before the startled enemy had time to recover his wits Akamaru had latched onto his thigh with a death-grip, and Kiba had gotten his hands around the enemy's throat and beaten his head into the stone pavement until there was no hint of life left. _

_It was only afterwards that Kiba realized that he had automatically turned his fingernails into sharp claws as he had leapt, and had also ripped the man's throat out. Sometimes he just amazed himself._

_Now he was being wheeled home by Takamori Nao. She wasn't the prettiest of the girls that Akamaru had woken from the enemy genjutsu, but when they had been attacked she had been the one to try to hit the enemy with her parasol, and hadn't hesitated to help the blood-covered Inuzuka back into his chair. Kiba liked that in a girl; a good, no-nonsense attitude. _

_Once they were on Inuzuka turf they would be safe. Or at least it was safer than trying to get toward the village shelters. From the sounds coming from that direction, the woods and grottos of the Inuzuka compound would be easier to get to, and they were an area where Kiba could hide them all with ease. _

_Kiba didn't blame Naruto for abandoning him. After all, it was obvious Shikamaru was in over his head, and it wasn't as if Akamaru and he couldn't look after themselves. Good old Naruto was just showing he knew who could handle the rough stuff, and who couldn't._

It was a slow and ragged group that Haruno Sakura led towards the refuge dug under the cliff next to the Academy and Hokage's office. She soon regretted not taking them by the short way; left and to the main avenue of the town. Instead she had gone right, and even a little away from her destination, figuring that the main avenue was the most likely site of confusion, and even assaults, by some of the enemy invaders.

Now… she was leading women in confining formal clothing, and obese government officials (along with the injured guards), and neither group was keeping station or moving at any pace but that of a most leisurely promenade. She forgave the surviving bodyguards; honorable wounds were an acceptable excuse for a lack of speed. But the result of all of the reasons remained the same; they weren't going fast enough to reduce their exposure to the battle going on around them, and there were too many of them to hide in shadows and work their way to safety in furtive advances.

The invaders seemed to be more numerous than she had been prepared for, and they seemed a bit more dangerous than she had expected. Making a decision she put henges of tall warriors on the best moving ten of her charges, and made the bodyguards look like the society ladies, carrying parasols rather than swords. It took her more precious time to explain to the party what exactly she had done, and why it was important. The bodyguards, at least, thought it amusing. Finally, a group of apparently ten professional fighters , eleven court ladies and counselors, and one trembling little girl with an elaborate kimono and jet black hair continued on, first north-a -ways, and then west down one of the radial roads that led to the fortified refugee center.

They were passing by the Yamanaka section of town (not quite a clan area as such… certainly not a clan compound, but a neighborhood where the Yamanakas, and their relatives and in-laws, had been settling for fifty years or so until they were the majority of the people living on the street and setting up the shops and businesses there) when she was surprised by the sudden appearance of perhaps a score of civilians from a shattered shop front. There was one old massive greybeard leading them, ten young men and women either forming a outer, protective periphery for the group or helping a number of aged or infant civilians. It was all Sakura could do not to lift her left hand and kill them all, she was so startled.

Luckily, she waited long enough to see that the obvious non-combatants weren't prisoners or hostages, but were being caringly escorted. And then she sort-of recognized a few of the younger civilians as people she had seen in this area before when visiting Ino or shopping. It didn't hurt that a three year old was trying to cling to the leg of a young man, and the man gently separating his leg from the desperately hugging child. Sakura was a bit more disturbed by the man leading them. Fifty if he was a day, two meters tall at least, and holding two heavy axes in his hands as if they were small sickles suitable for trimming hedges and garden borders. She noticed he wasn't wearing any Militia armband.

For a moment they stared at each other; she wondered why he wasn't paying any attention to the lady's maid she had disguised as a decorated veteran samurai. Then she noticed that every head in her party had automatically turned to her to check what their response should be as soon as the newcomers were spotted. Naruto was right, again; you really had to rehearse to get a performance down so no one slipped up. She straightened up and stopped pretending to be frightened; it was very hard to fake that with someone who was laughing in great gouts of good humored amusement.

A fairly weedy-looking youth, seventeen or eighteen perhaps, suddenly made a fist and pumped up into the air. "Yes! Yes! Sensei saw the shadows were different from what was casting them!"

Sakura blushed; even the face she was wearing at that moment did. The disguises she had placed on her little convoy had been meant to fool direct vision. They weren't a true transformation by any means, so the old man had seen the shadows of serving maids as those of tall fighters with swords. And the shadows of the apparent samurai guards had shown rotund councilors and delicate maidens.

"We're heading to the Shelters… under the cliffs. Do you want to merge forces?" she asked.

The man nodded to her question: "Yes, young lady. Already we are too many for stealth. We might as well have enough numbers to intimidate the more faint-hearted who approach us." The answer came in a strangely accented and slightly sing-songish bass voice. It was somehow not silly-foreigner amusing; it struck her more as… a comforting rumbling sound, like (perhaps) the voice she'd imagined, when she was a little girl, would have come out from the stuffed animal that was still on a shelf over her bed that had protected her from bad dreams so well. She laughed to herself then, and let the disguise that covered her drop. She was pleased at the slight widening of his eyes as he saw her real form, and the quick respectful nod of his head. Evidently one of her fans.

Wow, she had fans!

_The youth currently being called Shiro had to admit that dressing in his current rough manner at least cut down the number of men trying to get a date. Most of the girls that became interested instead were a bit less forward, though he had to be very delicate in how he handled his rejections of them. The number of married or widowed women who became very bold, however, more than made up for any gains on the other end. Still, a wandering ninja had no right to become involved with a girlfriend (and especially married women!)._

_Shiro looked down as he stood on top of his handiwork, a simple semi-labyrinth in front of the entrance to Shelter 3. It was made of ice, and at strategic points were the Demonic Ice Mirrors, which he could, once he exercised his bloodline talent, move between with almost the speed of thought. He had let a constant stream of civilian refugees in, and been in the forefront of beating off two probing attacks from hostile ninja with some of the __oddest__ bodily modifications and special talents and skills._

_Currently he was doing overwatch as the bodies of three of the Oto infiltrators were being cleared from the path in toward the shelter. Leaving them there would only discourage honest civilians from trying to reach this particular shelter. There, three streets away, he could see a largish band of people scurrying and hobbling (there were wounded among them) their way to the shelter. He alerted the other guardians, two genin that had managed to survive into an inactive middle age, that a bunch was incoming. _

_Now he could see that there was a moving battle going on some twenty meters or so from the rear of the fleeing group. Two figures were retreating, but facing their enemies. One was a stolid mass of a man, bigger even than Zabuza-sama, using a katana in one hand as if it was a willow wand and not a sizeable sword, and a tree-felling axe in the other. The other defender was unmistakably Haruno Sakura, her pink hair sweat-plastered to her head as she darted back and forth, a deadly hummingbird partnered to the body-shattering bear that guarded her flanks. In the distance he saw houses falling, the pattern heading in their direction._

_The party they protected finally reached the entrance to the maze. Shiro used his Ice Mirrors to get down to where the other guardians were leading them down the proper path. _

"_Yoshio-kun, Emi-san, get these into the shelter, and stay there, prepare to seal the doors. Something big is coming, and I doubt we'll be able to stop it. Hurry!"_

_There was the distant sound of firecrackers being set off in a slow string of explosions._

_Three of the last group of refugees stood for a second, as the others made all the speed they could toward safety. Two girls and one young man looked at each other, and drew a deep breath. As they set their shoulders and started to turn back out toward the battle Shiro grabbed the arms of the male and one of the girls. For the first time that he could remember he actually snarled at someone._

"_Get to the Shelter, don't look back. Argue with me and I'll cut you myself!"_

_He gave a sigh of relief as they stumbled off. They were already exhausted, and some of the stains on their clothing had been their own blood. All the willing heart in the world wasn't going to be much help if he wasn't mistaken about what he had glimpsed for a second from the top of his maze's walls._

_The rear guard came into view around the last bend in the street. Haruno-san was evidently hurt; she was holding one of her hands in the other. The big old man was huffing and puffing, but he still dodged those attacks he couldn't deflect with his weapons and proved twice, while Shiro was running up to support Haruno, that he had a longer reach than his opponents had thought._

_A home collapsed a street away when a vast scaled flank brushed against it too hard._

_When Shiro reached Haruno he was glad to see she wasn't too badly injured after all; she had taken up again her short sword and dagger. Before she could speak he gave a flippant salute, and took the initiative._

"_Today I'm Shiro, my gentle captor. We must get out of here as quickly as possible. One of the enemy's bigger weapons is closing in, and I doubt that we can stop it out here in the open. The maze may slow it up, and offer us better opportunities."_

_She thought for barely a second, then yelled, "Old Man, fall back fast and follow us. Shiro here knows what he's doing."_

_They were barely inside the paths of chakra ice when the giant head, held a man's height above the ground, came around the last corner. Its forked tongue flickered out and caught the scent of hundreds of terrified humans, the feast it had been promised. It slithered forward…_


	16. Chapter 15

I do not own, or receive and benefit, from the Naruto properties.

A Teacher's Glory: A Union of Rejects: Chapter 15

By Larry Huss

Hyuga Hanabi huddled against the broken wall of the equipment shed at Training Ground 15. The area had still been in a period of rehabilitation between use-cycles when the attack had begun, and the battling forces of the invaders and Konoha's defenders hadn't bothered staying very long in the large and deserted wooded area. She looked up at her father's face, but found no comfort there. He was slumped against a broken tree bole. It had sprouted shoots with the special vitality that was so much a part of the nature of Konoha. But he wasn't enjoying the quiet evidence of fertility, or the current lack of enemies. His normally stoic face now looked more grim than merely stern. Hanabi had never before seen him look… defeated.

She started to rip up the hem of her holiday kimono, the one decorated with silken embroidered dogwood branches and flowers. Carefully she removed the blood-sodden bandage on his leg, and began to apply some of her wadded up festal clothes as a pad to compress the wound and slow the bleeding.

"Hold that in place, Father. My obi will hold it in place as soon as I get it tied on."

She was so much engaged in trying to remember the basic first aid techniques she had seen Big Sister practice at home that she didn't notice the brief, flickering smile that crossed her father's face at her efforts to act like an adult woman.

That brief joy was one of the few good things Hyuga Hiashi had been able to find about this day. Today was not a day for joy. The worst thing though, was that he realized their present vulnerability was the result of his miscalculations and pride. There was sending the Yamanaka girl away over her protests, saying that he could get back to the Hyuga Compound by himself. Then refusing to join up with that group of refugees heading toward the common shelters had probably been not the smartest thing he had ever done. Finally, allowing the two of them to be diverted again and again by the sight of distant combat or roving bands of infiltrators had driven them here, alone and vulnerable. True, now they were relatively safe, having ended up in the extreme north-east of the village, near to the memorial stone. Relatively safe, but who was leading the defense of the home Compound? At this point he couldn't even honestly say he was defending his own children.

Hinata was evidently disappointing him once again, this time by not living down to his low expectations of her. Instead of the hesitant failure that he had expected, he had seen a serene and confident warrior protecting the innocent with grace and ferocity. Neji, on the other hand, had shown that Hiashi's attempts to be an indulgent uncle to his brother's orphan had only created a highly skilled brat, resentful of his cousins, and unable to acknowledge that other people had worthy dreams or talents. Hiashi looked toward his youngest child, finishing her job of bandaging his wound. He wondered in what ways he was failing her also.

He was brought out of his musing by Hanabi's sudden gasp of surprise. A dirty white puppy had snuck up on her, and poked her with its cold, wet, nose. After her initial reaction, a dawning realization came to her. She had seen Big Sister's teammates pick her up at the compound several times; this was the Inuzuka boy's pet, that went everywhere with him. Driven by instincts too ancient and deep to deny she started to scratch the dog behind the ears, saying "Who's a good boy, who's a good boy?"

Akamaru gave the girl a quick lick on her cheek, then grabbed the now ragged hem of her kimono, and began to pull her toward a ford across the meandering stream that cut through the village's northernmost section. Naturally she resisted, and even at eight was able to dig her heels in enough to stop from being dragged. After a few futile moments of this Akamaru let go of the clothing, and sat down with a pensive look on his face. Hanabi started to laugh; on this magical, horrible day, this was the only thing that had no element of the weird or disturbing.

Finally the dog got to its feet again, and went over to Hiashi, still sitting and leaning against the shattered trunk of the tree. It took the man's hand, gently, in its mouth and gave it a yank, then let go, walked a few meters off, and turned giving a low bark. Then it returned and did it all over again.

The ninja aristocrat looked at his daughter, who looked back and gave a definite nod. He gave a sigh, and began to awkwardly struggle to his feet. At least someone around here had an idea of what to do; he had run out of any constructive plans long ago.

Akamaru led the pair carefully away, scouting ahead when he could, and testing the wind for the scents of danger or ambush. Slowly, he managed to lead them to a copse of trees behind the Inuzuka Compound, where Kiba and his three unexpected companions had set up a little camp in a depression screened from easy visibility, and had gathered some supplies and water enough to last at least until the next day.

Hyuga Hiashi wanted, now that his daughter was a safe as was possible on this day, to rush back to see how the rest of the clan was doing. But with his injured leg, and a crushing feeling of tiredness that went far beyond that of the merely physical, he just fell into a deep sleep, not even being disturbed by the conversations that went on around him for hours into the night.

_Uzumaki Naruto walked, as if by right, at the side of Sarutobi Hiruzen, Hokage of Konoha. On the Hokage's other side was Uchiha Sasuke. Preceding them was the Great Green Beast of Konoha, the Jonin Guy. Six ANBU followed them, ready for whatever duty their Hokage decreed. They went at, for ninjas, a stately pace, as they all had fought hard already on this day and wanted to be able to meet any future challenges as rested as they could be. They headed to where there were sounds of battle, and smoke was rising into the sky. A hawk swooped down to land on the Hokage's shoulder; the old man took a rolled up message from off of its leg, read it, and directed his party at a quicker pace to the south and west, to where there had been a breech in the defensive wall near the almost deserted Uchiha compound, and the densely populated Hyuga Clan quarters._

_Sarutobi turned his head to his right, and gave a nod. Naruto created three Shadow Clones, and sent them off on the most direct route, at a quick trot. Sasuke slid over to his teammate, and asked, "You all right?"_

"_Yeah, But from now on I'm gonna' be tapping my 'guest' a lot earlier in the day. I don't like the feeling of having to rely on it, when I'm so low. You?"_

"_Fresh, practically. I can't wait to show up at the Hyuga place and save the day. The look on their faces owing me will… "_

"_Don't worry, guy. I know who 'ya really worrying about. She'll be OK. They're all smart, and they know the ground."_

_A note of bitterness crept into Sasuke's voice. "I knew something was up, why didn't I prepare-"_

_Naruto threw a quick left arm hug around him. "You don't have to be brilliant all the time until yer a Jonin, so ease up on yourself. And They __are__ smart, and have they ever let you down?"_

_At that the last Uchiha gave a quick grin, and picked up the pace._

Despite the broken walls and caved in roofs, the Hyuga Compound didn't look any worse than if it had just suffered a medium-grade earthquake. There were a fair number of bodies around, mostly men and women in their mature ages, evidently the rearguard from the Hyugas' fighting withdrawal. They outnumbered the ninjas in Sound or Sand headbands perhaps two or three to one. Not really that bad an exchange rate, as the defenders had been long past their prime and out of shape. Some were evidently not even trained in the 'Gentle Fist'; they were discovered lying with gardening tools in their hands, or kitchen knives. Some had had their Hyuga eyes scooped out of their faces. Oddly, there were few Konoha villagers in the other age groups, and no children.

There were still the sounds of conflict coming from East, the direction of the desolate Uchiha neighborhood. The Hokage signaled Guy over, and told him to take the genin to see what was going on, while he took his ANBU to the walls and confer with Jiraiya, who supposed to be in charge of the Southern perimeter. With a glistening grin and vigorous thumbs-up, the Jonin acknowledged the order, and then had to put on his best turn of speed to catch up to the two genin who had taken off as soon as they had heard the Hokage had given them clearance to operate in the direction of their desire.

Naruto took two of his Shadow Clones with him, and all three had trouble keeping up with Sasuke, who was running to see if he had a home left, if he had lost a family, again. The way to go was easy to see; every few meters a body was seen, more often now an invader's. It wasn't until they reached the edge of the Uchiha land that they started to see still-living Oto ninja; one with his face shredded and eyes ripped out; one looking blankly out at the world, abandoned by his companions when a ninja-wire trap had taken off his foot.

At that, the Clones took the lead, and advanced a lot slower, checking as best they could for more traps. One section of the fought-over path was scorched and surrounded by shattered trees. Someone had been liberal in their use of exploding tags. There were four more bodies there, all enemy.

When they finally got through the wood line, into the houses and streets area of the Uchiha quarter, they finally caught a view of the ongoing battle; forty or fifty attackers in combat gear and weapons surrounding a knot of twenty or so people, in casual at-home robes, with white, pupil-less eyes.

The invaders, who saw the four young ninja, and the oddly-dressed older one, were too far away to tell the sign on their headbands; they took it for granted that the newcomers were reinforcements. The way that swords were drawn, and the new group came at a run didn't alarm them, until one suddenly spurted an intense rod of fire from his mouth, setting three of them ablaze. Before any change of formation or front could be made the three identical blonds were in among the foreigners, some still with their backs turned. Naruto (and his Clones) weren't in any mood for taking prisoners, and cut at necks and shoulders to kill or cripple the surprised Oto attackers. Surprise and speed made the first five victims easy meat.

Sasuke came in on the left side of one of the Narutos (even he couldn't tell which was the real one), blocked a kunai slash with his own, and countered, cutting the jaw of his attacker half-off. Before the injured ninja had time to react Sasuke was already past him, now with his kodachi blazing with fire that extended several palms-lengths past where the metal ended. His fencing mentor, Raido, would have been proud; his left hand kunai was a flickering shield, his now katana length right hand blade was cunning and quick, thrusts to kill, slashes to cripple. He moved in slants to left, and then right, faster than most of his opponents could counter. One Oto ninja, covered with long spines, suddenly began spitting long thorns with dark glistening points at him. With his Sharingan-red eyes Sasuke feinted the stream of needles the wrong way, and stopped the stream by pushing his sword into the enemy's mouth, and out the back of his head.

As Guy cheerfully blocked one enemy's attack while kicking another foe up over the roof of a three story building, he had to admit that, after all, the genin of Team Anko were full of the Spirit of Fire and the Joy of Youth. After a day of combat in the arena (scheduled or not) and a brisk run, they were still full of enthusiasm and vigor in full measure as they protected their home and their fellow villagers. Perhaps, he allowed, as his punch shattered an enemy's chest right through a protective vest, Kakashi had to share some of the fault for how things turned out. Surely these joyous warriors had merely been a bit too enthusiastic in their efforts to pass their genin test. He sighed as he leaped over the swing of a ninja, who's right arm had suddenly become a writhing two meter long tentacle with suction cups and poisoned fangs; what wonderful ninjas Team Seven would have become, if only poor Kakashi had managed to live through his introduction to them.

_As they ran along the top of the maze, Shiro glanced back over his shoulder. He bit his tongue; mere obscenity wouldn't do any good now. He must have built his entrance maze too large and thin-walled; the melded blocks of chakra-ice weren't even slowing the thing down. Its wedge-shaped head was knocking them apart and up into the air five or meters or more._

_Seeing the direction of Haku's glance (he'd be 'Shiro' later; she didn't have time to keep cover identities straight right now), Sakura saw that what Sasuke had described as 'iron-hard ice' was doing as much to keep what looked like an immense snake back as if it was made of wet cardboard. At this rate there was no chance that the shelter doors would be properly closed and sealed before it got to them. The size and evident strength of the thing made her unsure that the doors would be able to keep it out, even if there was enough time. But she could at least do her best to make sure that the refugees would have a chance to find out if the doors would hold. She stopped following Haku, and jumped to the left. Alright, time for a Plan A._

_Belly scales… she'd dealt with enough snakes to know that they were always hard, flat and tight to each other. The most difficult and toughest direction to attack from was from below._

_The head was being used as a battering ram, it must be tough as anything; maybe the eyes would be a weak spot, but they would also be protected by at least two layers of tough, horny protection. Better, but not good enough._

_The neck, behind the broad head, where the scales had to overlapping, but loosely laying on each other so that they could easily slide over each other and give flexibility? Maybe, but it would be a hard and uncertain position to get into._

_Shoot it up its anus? A weak point in the armor, certainly, but the way this thing was moving she'd have to be Tamura Tenten to get a hit. But there was an idea there. To make it really pay attention, the truth was that only something that could do internal damage would do._

_So… Plan A would be in two parts: get its attention… probably appear as a serious item of food. Then get it interested in striking; she'd have to be real fast in taking the fleeting opportunity that would come up._

_Plan B: try illusions until she ran out of chakra, or got smashed by accident._

_Long practice let her load up her empty right-hand needle launcher on the run. She hadn't emptied her left-hand launcher yet; it was still filled with some of Naruto's best work. She poured chakra into her legs and forced them to move at speeds that not even Sensei's harsh training had pushed them to. She __had__ to get far enough ahead of it to get things set up._

_She did, barely. The old man was finally winded enough to just wheeze a bit as he ran past her. She gave a toss of her head, motioning him to keep going. What she planned to do would either work very well indeed, or be such a disaster that one more person there would only inflate the body count. Unfortunately, Haku wasn't a winded old man who had patted his great-grandchildren's heads goodbye before he had left home over a generation ago. The surprisingly plainly dressed (for him) young man leaped down from the elevated maze top, unwilling to leave a comrade alone to face the enemy, and knowing her too well to think he had a chance in the time they had left before the snake caught up to them to persuade her to try something less risky than direct confrontation. _

_Not interrupting her hand signs (this was going to be something she had never quite done before, and she wasn't going to try and get fancy doing it signless), Sakura yelled to him, "After I hit it, shove some great big icicle down its throat or something!" Maybe not the best Mission briefing ever given, but she hadn't asked or expected him to be there in the first place._

_Suddenly there was a four meter tall Haruno Sakura in ten meters in front of her, pink hair and all._

_Whether the summoned serpent was actually fooled into thinking that lunch was being served (or that some ninja knew a size altering jutsu and was spoiling for a fight, or merely that there was an illusion in front of it that had to be gone through or taken care of somehow) really didn't matter. It opened its maw, and struck. And hit the ground when it passed through no greater resistance than air. At least now it could see its enemies. Two of the tiny ninjas, not more than single swallow for the both of them, were in front. The Serpent of the Third Rank pulled its head back a little, to get proper bracing for a lunge, and again opened its mouth wide, so both could be gobbled up at once. The targets were too small to deserve venom; they would be going down its gullet alive and in one piece._

_Sakura blew out her breath… right there at the end she had worried that she had cut things too fine. The damn ox-sized head had slammed into the ground less than two meters in front of her, far too close for comfort. But now the creature pulled back and elevated itself, and she could have almost jumped inside its gape. Bracing her left hand with her right she emptied her Quick Needle Launcher (Mark II, Type 3) in a quick ripple, each launching a tenth of a second apart. Three of Naruto's special darts, the type you didn't want to use too close to yourself. All went into the great, dripping target, each hitting the back of the mouth less than a palm's breadth apart. The explosions blended into the roar of the launching. A patch of scales, as large around as a family dinner table, blew out of the back of the snake's head up into the air. Sakura and Haku were knocked over and rolled five meters back by the small amount of the explosion that had reflected off of the interior of the creature's skull. As soon as she stopped rolling Sakura began to reload her empty launcher, propping her partially numb left arm up on her leg to keep it in place. _

_Haku took a few moments longer to get his tumbled wits together, then stumbled up to the writhing upper part of the snake, and on the third attempt managed to force an arm-thick and six meter long spear of ice down the throat. The snake hardly seemed to notice it; it just continued to spasm randomly, its eyes completely open, with no protective membrane apparent, staring at nothing._

_The huge old man that had been helping the Konoha ninja defend the band of refugees walked unsteadily up to the one he knew as Shiro. "They do that for a while, you know; die little by little. I'm glad I never got that little girl angry at me."_

_One of the court ladies poked her head around a corner of the part of maze that was still standing. Seeing the monster dead, she advanced, still neat and groomed after a day of flight from danger; attractive in a slightly plump, middle-aged way. "Miss Haruno's work? Hmm… she seems a most accomplished young woman. Very level headed."_

"_The ice thing was mine, but… I really don't think it was needed," Haku said. "It was all her plan, also."_

_The woman thought for a few seconds: "While I can't say that I'm very impressed by the upper management of this Village Hidden in the Leaves in letting the entertainment get so far out of hand; certainly their actual workers at the Art have been capable of showing both thought and skill. I take it that you are another of the Konoha ninja?"_

"_No, no. Just a… friend who was asked to help out. My master and I were very favorably taken by the behavior of some of Konoha ninjas, out in the field, and when they asked us to help out it seemed like it would be… fun?"_

_The woman smiled, and Haku felt a little like he had when the two ex-'employees' of Gato had hired and 'educated' him back in Wave Country. Flattered and apprehensive. _

_The women went over to where Sakura was hobbling forward, ready to put the final kill in on the beast, if it needed it. Taking the younger woman by the arm the aristocrat murmured in Sakura's ear, "I wonder, dear, if you are open to a longer-term contract."_

Some odd combination of random events had finally scrambled personnel enough that Team Asuma was doing street patrol as a single entity. They were going up and down the streets, checking each house, ruined or not, for infiltrators and knots of invaders still engaged in marauding. They were also checking for injured citizens (sending reports whenever they could of their locations), and leaving markers to indicate where the corpse retrieval teams would have to visit.

Asuma had his blankest professional face on. Choji was angry, and frustrated: they had come to his home to do this, they would be punished. Ino was looking a little green; so many corpses, so many people mutilated by weird jutsus and savage hearts. Shikamaru was just weary. Bone-tired, chakra-low, and approaching the end of his strength. He had killed and killed, using steel and cunning and his last reserves of will and courage. He could feel that he was approaching the end of himself, when he would stop caring and just stand there and let whatever fate send just happen to him.

Asuma could feel the sorry state of his team. Only Choji was still really effective… Ino could probably handle one more confrontation, if it was defensive in nature. And Shikamaru was just plain done for. He had used his family's techniques in strange and innovative ways for searching into dangerous and hidden places, but it had drained him. Add that on top of his fights at the Stadium, and even his recent dedication to improving his chakra reserves and body just wasn't enough to keep him going for very much longer. The trouble was, until the official word was given Orders were to keep the security cleanup going until the stand-down was announced. It was evidently time for initiative.

Selecting an apparently empty house at random, Asuma motioned for Choji to follow him inside, checking it out. The others were to stay in the street and prevent the exploring team from being surprised by any roving band of enemy. They hadn't seen one for some time, but letting your rear be unguarded was an elementary mistake that Asuma had drilled them to avoid.

In a few moments Asuma and Choji came out of the place; it hadn't even been looted. The Jonin checked his two least physical students. Ino was scanning nervously up and down the street, checking the rooftops for high moving enemies, and taking increasingly frequent sips of water from her canteen. Shikamaru was leaning against a wall, his eyes open, and completely oblivious. Out on his feet.

Ino noticed that: "Wake up you lazy bum! We're not going to-"

It was at that point in her harangue that Choji's slap rocked her face. For the first time in her life she saw Akimichi Choji angry at her! Choji, who she had bullied since they were both just out of diapers, who always grinned and went along with whatever she said, was angry at her!

Before anything could get any more out of hand their Sensei took charge. "Shika's had a long, bad day, even more than the rest of us. All of you, go inside this house and secure it. Keep watch of the street and intersections, report to any responsible official if they come this way. I'll do a bit more scouting, then come back here, and we'll figure out some plans then. Meanwhile, let Shika… unwind for a while. And be quiet."

With that he headed up the road to check out a section they hadn't covered yet. Choji put Shikamaru's arm over his shoulder, and led the sleep-walking boy into the house. Ino followed silently. Choji had hit her! What was wrong with him? Pondering this, she set up her observation post behind a window, far enough back in the dark room that she couldn't be observed from the outside. Choji! What was wrong with him?

_As the ring of attackers that surrounded the Hyuga refugees broke apart like a shattered eggshell under the unexpected attack, Naruto realized something. There weren't nearly enough Hyuga there, and the ages… Where were all the others? Had they been already captured and dragged off for experimentation, or enslavement? He extended his sword's chakra cutting edge again, until he was cutting down running enemies three or more meters away. On the fly he made another Shadow Clone, and sent it to the clump of exhausted Hyuga, now leaning against each other, or panting and kneeling on the ground. _

_As the form of the most feared genin in Konoha ran up to the remaining Main House of the Hyuga members, and their closest retainers and servants, there was an attempt to reform the defensive circle that had held off their enemies earlier. About half were able to get themselves in position, and form an unimpressive front line, when the rude voice of the unnamable one shot out._

"_Who's in charge? Where are the others? Were the kids taken? What direction? How long ago?"_

_A white-haired man, with a pale and unmarked forehead, stepped from the pack. His face was darkening from the impertinence of the blond, but he realized that this was one of those few emergencies that excused a lack of proper decorum._

"_I am Hyuga Masaru, retired head of the Clan. The Uchiha's maid servant said that she would bring the children to safety; in our desperation we let her lead them away, and covered their retreat. Perhaps she had some secret hiding hole. At least we haven't seen any of our enemies go past carrying their bodies."_

_At that the boy just disappeared. The Hyuga decided that the entire episode; the rudeness and his accepting it, would just be officially non-existent, and informed the others so. There was a murmuring and nodding of heads. Some things must never be officially acknowledged, and That One demanding (and getting) something from the retired Head of the Clan was certainly in that category._

_The running, living Naruto angled over to Sasuke; they'd been keeping about ten meters apart so that if one got in trouble the other could be over to help within seconds. Their Jonin companion was off in another direction, and from what they knew about him, if he was in trouble it was unlikely they would have been able to help him in any case._

"_Sasuke… think you should check the Naka place. I'll keep these guys running."_

_There was a moment's hesitation in Sasuke's stride, then he veered off from his current line and began to move at his highest speed in the direction of the Naka Shrine, the holy place, and secret refuge of the Uchiha clan. Hopefully, a safe enough place for what was precious and irreplaceable to him._

_When he reached it, there might as well not have been conflict anywhere in the world. Birds were singing only in the uppermost branches of trees (cats, you know), and the direction Sasuke was looking in had no columns of smoke from burning buildings. He felt he could have just walked up to the stone staircase outside, ascend it, and rung the bell hanging there; then wait confidently for some bald-headed priest to appear and start gauging how much of an offering the young man could be cajoled into giving._

_But there hadn't been a priest there since the Massacre, and the swept steps and painted pillars were the result of Tamaki's delight in improving the property of her Master. He heard a sudden hissing squabble, and Hiroshi slid out from under an ornamental shrub and limped into sight. Looking around carefully, and sniffing the scents in the air, the cat finally looked backward to the shrubs and nodded._

"_She wanted to just leap up for you to catch, like she always does. I had to impress on her that a warrior who's just been in a fight might have his combat reflexes a little on a hair-trigger."_

_As he said that Yoko came out, awkwardly moving her pregnant body. When she got close enough Sasuke reached down and picked her up tenderly. "Listen to Hiroshi," he said, "he's the leader when I'm not around, after Tamaki." She just gave a feline shrug, and licked a minor scratch on his hand. He walked up the stairs and into the shrine. The floors were covered in their normal straw mats; just a few in a back corner seemed a little out of place. It must have been awkward for the cats to have pulled the mat over the trapdoor back into place, considering their size. Probably more a matter of leverage than actual strength he decided as he walked over and pulled them aside, and then opened the trap door. From up the stairs came first the sounds of children in fear; their weeping and exclamations of surprise. Then there came the odor of too many people confined in too small a space. There was very little light, only one lamp was burning. "Uchiha coming down!" Sasuke called out, and began to descend. A cat streaked up to the step he was just about to step on, and began to hiss and bristled up its fur. It was the near-ninja cat Akemi, he realized, but why she was acting this way was a mystery. When he stopped descending, the cat stopped hissing, and lay down on the step. It looked up at him, eager to say something it lacked the ability to._

"_Trap there?"_

_Nod._

"_Are the other steps safe?"_

_A hesitation as all those words were considered. The head didn't nod, but swung side to side._

_A child of six or seven, silver eyes red from weeping, gathered enough courage to come to the base of the stairs, she stood up very stiffly, and then bowed deeply. There was the scar of some sort of a branding on her forehead._

"_Welcome Lord Uchiha. The Lady Tamaki painted paper to look like stone and put it over Uzumaki-san's explosive tags, and put it on the step the Honorable Cat is on. It goes off by how heavy you are. The other steps are safe."_

_And then the child bowed again, and leaped back in startlement as Sasuke jumped down the remaining ten steps to the floor of the refugee. From there he turned and called up to the cat on the step._

"_You __lied __to me, Akemi?"_

_Shamefacedly the cat dropped its head to rest on its paws._

"_I'm so proud of you! Your kits will be true ninjas!"_

_Akemi lifted her head, and purred. Yoko remained in her place on his arm; she knew who Sasuke's favorite was! At Sasuke's urging Akemi left the step, and he carefully removed the improvised trap. Only when it was safe did he let the real concern bothering him come out._

"_And where is the Lady Tamaki, Hyuga-san?"_

_The girl just ran to the far wall, and dropped besides a blanket wrapped bundle. Sasuke was there almost as fast, and called forth a little flame, standing motionless on his palm. Tamaki was lying there, and when he gently unwrapped her the blood soaked pad that was awkwardly tied to her side came loose and fell off. Cursing, Sasuke tore at the medical kit at his side to get a better bandage. He sprinkled a blood coagulant on it, and pressed it against her oozing wound. If only Sakura was here! Everything went right when they were all together, the whole Team._

They came for Temari through the front door, the lock opening like some obedient dog rolling over on command. She was too tired and weak to even attempt to resist, and bit back her shame as they searched her to the skin for any hidden weapons or suicide pills. At least they let her get dressed again in her civilian clothes before they took her to the fenced-off compound where the lower ranked Suna prisoners were being kept.

That they had bothered to come at all had told her everything she'd needed to know about the attack had gone. Failure… complete and total. That she hadn't been abused was just confirmation of how badly things had gone; they weren't even enraged by the treachery of what should have been their firmest ally. Evidently, they thought she had some hostage value left, and weren't about to lower whatever ransom they thought they could get for her.

How little they knew Father; she might as well resign herself to being sold to some far off brothel by a Konoha merchant that had discovered the only way to get any reparations from bankrupt Suna was to treat its abandoned prisoners as slave labor destined for the mines or the Willow Quarter. She didn't bother to talk to the other prisoners, desperate in their hope that a mass slaughter wasn't in their future.

By the time Kankuro had been dropped off at her fenced-in field she'd managed to finally keep a little water and rice down. He wanted to talk, and even weak as she still was she found that she was eager after all to find out exactly how bad things were. Had Father and Gaara been able to get back to Suna, or were they being driven away from the hot and dry lands where their strength was greatest?

"Hey Sis, they got you too I see. I'm kind of surprised how happy I am to be back in the bosom of the Family. Hell, considering how much of the Town got knocked about, I'm sort of surprised they're taking so many prisoners. "

A genin prisoner who had drifted close to the Kazekage's children put his contribution to the conversation in: "So we hurt them bad! Good, maybe they'll try to earn our good will by treating us with respect then."

In a weary voice Temari contradicted him, "It's more likely they'll be angry, and take it out on their prisoners in blood and pain. Isn't what we'd do in a case like this?"

The boy fell silent; he'd had too many fantasies of pillage and carnage when Suna took Konoha for him not to wonder if the reverse was going to be true now that the tables had turned.

Kankuro continued his story: "It might be bad for them, but it's been a disaster for us. Anybody inside the walls was either killed or captured, and a big part of those who were supposed to break in were caught in swamps when those Oto snakes couldn't make but one nick in the defenses. Big promises from them, and as soon as their boss gets discovered he cuts out, abandon's everyone, and they get totally useless, the freaks!"

After this little burst of spirited anger Kankuro became silent. Temari saw how he glanced once at her, and looked away quickly, with a sort of guilty air about him. Had he been the one that had betrayed Suna? Was her own brother a traitor, now being placed here only to make sure that no real escape plans were put in operation? Certainly he was undamaged… he must have not have put up any resistance to being captured. She felt she was being unfair to him; how much had she done, after all?

"How did they get you, Brother? I thought you had smuggled in your fighting puppets and were ready to assist Father when he gave the signal?"

"The Uchiha and the pink-haired girl were sticking so close to me after they had won their bouts that before I got a chance to do anything they were on top of me. They were ahead of us all the way. And we didn't get the signal the way it was planned either. We were betrayed, set up as a sacrifice from the start."

"You can't mean that Father was tricked. I know he had a problem with Gaara, but setting this whole thing up to get rid of him with Konoha taking the casualties would have been insane!"

'So,' she thought, 'this is what I really think about Father, in the end. A little late to admit how much a failure he has been… with all of us.'

Kankuro sucked in a large breath of air and squared his shoulders, like he used to do as a child when he felt he had to confess to stealing an extra helping of dessert.

"No, Father didn't… Father didn't betray us. Father's dead. Has been dead. For a long time. I didn't know how to tell you. Baki-sensei was captured; the Konoha Kage showed him something, and Baki-sensei thought I should see it and have an explanation. It was a skin, a human skin with the face on and everything. And it was Father's."

Temari shuddered; that Konoha should show such disrespect to the body of one of the great ones of the world was disgusting and vile.

Kankuro continued: "No, Sister, the locals hadn't done that to Father. Baki-sensei said from the condition of it the skin had been taken and specially prepared some time ago, perhaps as long as a month or so. There have been some eyewitness reports that the Konoha traitor Orochimaru was seen pulling it off as he abandoned everybody else to save his own… skin."

She wanted to protest, it couldn't be true. Hadn't they talked to Father just a few days ago? Surely they would have noticed… surely they would not have noticed any difference in the man who had not been there during their childhood, who had only been an occasional voice of command and reprimand on the few occasions they were brought fearfully into his presence.

"How did Gaara get away? Did you hear about that?"

Kankuro had the audacity to actually grin. Gaara's threats to him had always had a more serious note to them than those to Temari.

"Our poor brother is sleeping at last, and permanently. Some magician and a Hyuga finally let him rest. At least that was for the good."

Temari smacked him, but instead of knocking him over for that cruel remark her feeble state meant the blow barely rocked him. He didn't even bother to protest or retaliate; he realized he had gone over a line with her. He had long known that she had a secret dream, a fantasy that somehow her little brother would manage to come back to his humanity. It had been one of the few things she had not been totally realistic about, but Kankuro had allowed her that weakness. In other ways she really was a pretty nice big sister, after all.

For the next hour she brooded, being both depressed and knowing how many people would want to get back at Kankuro and her for injuries and insults Father had inflicted so widely in his days of power. He was now certainly safe in death; Gaara would have been safe also, if only he had lived. She was the one in people's minds who was the most prominent child of the now-fallen leader. There was no hereditary rule for Kazekage's, and purging the family of the previous one was well within how the political game was played in Suna. She had no more home there. As one of the last of the famed linage of Puppeteers, Kankuro had unique value to Suna and a patron in old Chiyo, the aged mistress of Puppets. He would do alright, one way or the other.

She on the other hand… was just another failed candidate for Chunin. If she had won her chance to reach the finals it might have been different, but instead all that was really known about her was that she was nothing special, but might have a grudge against the next Kazekage, who would undoubtedly take away what everyone thought were the luxuries and perks of being in the village ruler's family. In short: she really had no home to go back to. No family that wanted or needed her (Kankuro had often said that it was a drag on him to be on the same team as his siblings) living, and no reason to live.

No reason to live. Yes, that sounded about right. Bracing herself against one of the newly sprung-up tree trunks that made up the wall of her prison, she managed to get to her feet. She had no weapons, her captors thought, but she was one of the genin who could make her own. Weak as she was, she was still Temari of the Wind, and as she approached one of the guards directing the carrying out of the sanitary buckets she used her much-depleted chakra to form a ball of compressed and whirling air.

When the guard turned a bit to point out where the buckets were to be emptied she thrust her hands forward, gathered a bludgeon of air, and guided the invisible weapon to an impact site just above his right kidney. As he had the breath driven out of him and fell to his knees she tried to dash forward and grab one of his kunai to give the other guards a good reason to end her pain, finish off the armed prisoner. Instead, her surge forward was more a prolonged and awkward stagger, her head all dizzy and her body shaking. But somehow she reached the kneeling guard, and began to fumble at one of his holsters. Before anything could be pulled out she felt a harsh coldness and searing pain in her back as a thrown kunai from another guard reached her. Yes! At last this meaningless and useless life would be over; they'd never give medical treatment to a dangerous enemy attempting to escape!

_Naruto and the six Shadow Clones he'd managed to create and keep active had finally driven the remnants of the Oto invaders out of the south-west of the village, along with a dozen or so domestic looters and rioters. He'd herded them to the north-east, and as he had expected, that led them directly into a defensive perimeter around the Aburame compound. He stopped advancing as soon as he saw the first of the enemy falling to the ground, and a mixture of Grannies and children dragging bodies inside, where he expected they would provide the protein for another generation of insect larvae. _

_Seeing what was happening to their cohorts that resisted, the score of survivors ran back toward the group of one short and six two meter tall blondes (it never hurt to put up a good front!), throwing their weapons down, and falling to their knees. Naruto sighed; why did everyone expect him to give them mercy? It sometimes got tedious._

_Grumbling, he and his clones began to separate the prisoners, and strip and bind them. It was mere chance that when the suicider blew himself up it was a Shadow Clone that had been next to him… the explosion would have just competed ruining Naruto's day. When some of the Aburame insects decided that the chakra of another of the clones was too interesting not to nibble at, Naruto finally lost his temper._

"_Keep your stupid bugs under control or I'll… blow something up!" He yelled at the insect users. "Go get ropes, I'm running short of wire. And bring water and bandages. And where the hell are the rest of you? I know that ya 'gotta have more able bodies than I've been seeing!"_

_In a few minutes a score or so of men and women ranging from their early teens to their prime years came out, including several pregnant women. They had a full range of ninja tools, and something far more useful. Their hordes of Destruction Bugs, in a dozen different varieties, swarmed over the prisoners, devouring two who had been primed to engage in a final act of defiance when their enemies had gotten close enough. Naruto had never seen anything more stomach-turning, and it was only by going over some of Sensei's mental discipline exercises he kept himself from showing a reaction. He'd need these people, when he became Hokage. It wouldn't do to either turn away in disgust, or start retching when they revealed their way of combat._

_As much to distract himself, as the last of those willing to resist were turned into gleaming white bones (at least he was well used to those) as curiosity, Naruto walked over to the woman who seemed to be charge to ask a few questions. He kept a wary eye for any flood of chittering insects that might decide that the Kyuubi's chakra (which he had been hitting on pretty heavily for the last half hour) was worth getting a snack out of. When he had been around Shino that had never happened, but… maybe he had a different breed or something._

_He gave a respectful bow to the woman and introduced himself. To his surprise the woman seemed to know about him, besides his being the carrier of a secret she wasn't allowed to mention. _

"_My son was a member of your class at the Academy, Uzumaki-san. It seems that his reports that you have… blossomed… since graduation were not exaggerated. Which implies that some questions about how well the school evaluates and prepares students should be asked."_

"_Uh… thanks, I think," Naruto replied. "I was kinda wondering… why ya have the kids and old folks pulling in the corpses of the enemy. I understand why you wanted the bodies, I think. Fodder?"_

_What could almost have been thought to have been a shadow of a smile flickered across her face, her head gave a subtle nod, acknowledging someone who understood how things sometimes had to go._

"_It is quite an honorable disposal method, Uzumaki-san. We do no less with our own dead."_

_Naruto was almost surprised at himself for feeling no shock at that statement. It was simply too interesting to be disturbing. Still, she hadn't really answered his question, after all._

"_But, ya had a bunch of people who could get the bodies, people that were, ya know, faster and stronger than the old folks and kids. So why'd ya have them risk themselves?"_

_The woman replied in a surprisingly warm and calming voice; the sort you would want someone who was trying to help a child get over a traumatic event to have._

"_Those that are trained warriors, and who have a proper set of Kikaichu insects indwelling, were guarding the perimeter and gates. So those who were too old to still host a colony, or are too young to have one that is large enough to be useful, were far more expendable for the scavenging expedition. I understand that you, as an outsider, might be disturbed by this. But, we are not the largest of clans, and not all that popular, I'm afraid. We have to be cautious in preserving our strength._

"_And contrary to rumors: our children who are not suitable for Kikaichu adoption are not brought to the breeding nests, but adopted out. You can check!"_

"_I was just curious, Ma'am, just curious. I never even heard any rumor like that, anyway!"_

When Sarutobi Asuma returned, several hours later, to pick up his refreshed and now at least somewhat-functional team, he was able to give them the gist of the larger situation. The remaining enemy infiltrators inside Konoha were essentially fugitives, moving singly or in small and furtive groups only trying to escape. Except for a minor incursion in the extreme Southwest, there had been no enemy forces that had been able to break into the town, but the use of high-level Summoned snakes had caused a breach in the wall there that would have to be repaired. While there had been considerable property damage, the largest part of the population had been successfully sheltered, though some individual families had been hard hit. And about a third of the entire ninja forces of Suna, including the Kazekage's surviving children, were currently being held as POWs. It was a famous victory.

Team Asuma spent the night quartered with two Chunin teams at one of the empty former Konoha Military Police stations; luckily there was no rain to come in through the ragged roof. Team Anko joined them at dawn, and together the genin conducted sweeps through the more deserted areas of the town, rousting out a number of looters and only an occasional foreigner. Resistance was absent… anyone with fight in them had either been killed already or was doing their best to climb the walls or find some unguarded gate to escape through. Oddly, those the Konoha genin found seemed dedicated to surrender to Naruto, calling him Majutsushi-sama, 'Master Sorcerer.' That put a big grin on his face. Sakura seemed distracted, thinking on something deeply, while Sasuke, who seemed desperately worried, ignored Ino's comments that it was time for him to make an important political alliance with a friendly clan. He kept on suggesting that they swing by the hospital.

But Shikamaru had been put in charge of tactical operations; the two Jonin were following behind their charges were avidly discussing something in low tones, and whatever Shikamaru might have done for the other members of Team Anko, he didn't seem inclined to do for Sasuke until the end of their patrol brought them near the place in any case. Then the Uchiha was given a half-hour break, and shot off to put in a visit to someone.

The next day Ino went to the hospital herself, on orders to visit and be supportive of Temari of Suna, who was currently under suicide watch in the security wing of the place. Ino had been briefed on the other girl's mental state. Temari had been talkative, more babbling than anything else, as she had been taken to the Hospital.

Learning that while she had been sick and weak her little brother had been killed would have been bad enough. Temari may have feared him, but that didn't stop her desperately hoping that he would somehow become human again. Then learning that her father had evidently been dead for months, and she hadn't even realized it, had been the final straw, even more than the fact that Suna was obviously going to lose its status as a Great Ninja Village. She had attacked one of the guards at the prisoners' compound, and nearly managed to get him to kill her before her weakness had made her drop. Attempted 'suicide by ANBU.'

So for two hours Yamanaka Ino sat, mostly silently, besides an enemy prisoner whose hands were chained to the railings of the hospital bed. Ino occasionally gave her sips of water, and often just reached out for brief, almost furtive touches to the older girl's hands and face. Ino couldn't think of a thing to say: "Oh, while we were pretending to be your friends we drugged you and raped your mind for details of the attack" seemed more likely to have Temari try to bite her tongue out than anything else. In the end, before she left, Ino just said that she would try to get Kankuro permission to visit.

_You could say that Hyuga Hinata had had a 'good invasion.' Her sensei had visited her in the hospital early in the morning, and informed her that she had, after all, been put on the list of those to be promoted to Chunin. Her little sister had sent her a hand drawn get-well card, and a promise to keep her plants watered until she got home. The doctors told her that she would be released in two more days, and then Naruto had come in to see her after his assignment was over: dusty, sweaty, and perfect. After he was gone she was able to stump over on her crutches to visit Kiba in the next room over. A rather harsh-faced young woman was consoling the boy for the loss of his mother in the battle, and he seemed to be putting on his bravest face._

"_Hinata-san, please meet Takamori Nao, a brave companion during our escape from the Stadium the other day. It is for people like her that battles are fought and honor is won."_

_It seemed to Hinata that Kiba was trying a little too hard to be gallant, but under the circumstances she wasn't going to rain on his parade._

"_I'm happy to meet you, Miss Takamori. Kiba has always been the boldest of our team, and always says what he means."_

"_Mr. Inuzuka was so helpful and protective of my friends and I the other day. The fools here won't let dear Akamaru visit the hospital, so I'm having him stay over at my place until all the confusion is over._

"_Pardon me if I'm being impertinent, but are you of the Hyuga family?"_

_Hmm, Akamaru was staying at the girl's place; that was like she was boarding Kiba's little brother. She wouldn't tease him about this one. _

"_I do have that honor, Miss. I'm glad to know that Akamaru is doing well. He's the secret fourth member of our genin Team, and we'd be lost without him."_

_Evidently some things were starting to add up in Miss Takamori's mind: Hinata + Hyuga = Hyuga Hinata = … Takamori was by no means up on the politics of the ninja ruling class of Konoha. She didn't even know Kiba's position among the Inuzuka, but she did talk to people around her neighborhood, and that meant…_

"_The Demon-Queller!" the young woman whispered. "The Slayer…"_


	17. Chapter 16

I do not own, or receive any benefit from the Naruto properties.

A Teacher's Glory: A Union of Rejects: Chapter 16

By Larry Huss

_It was three days after the Breaking of Suna, and the cleanup sweeps of Konoha ninja had turned up some unexpected types of dirt._

_"I should be the one to present it… it was my nagging that got you involved in the first place," she said._

_ "It's really too late to grab all the blame on this one. I steered the patrol to the right neighborhood, dumped the kids in a safe spot, and went there and wrecked everything left standing until I found it. I'm in too deep not to finish this. Besides, your bunch will need you, and they'll be in danger if this goes bad._

"_Finally, this is a family matter; a blot on our honor, so my responsibility. And I searched for it, found it, and I've read the damn book cover to cover. I even made an index of the interesting bits, and I have access to Dad outside of office hours. If any lightning strikes… at least the village will be a little richer when they auction off my head," he said._

_ Back and forth it went between them, a passionate argument about who was going to do the right thing, and suffer the usual treatment of those who took principle a step or so too far. For hours the two Jonin stuck to their positions. While straining to hear what the problem was between their sensei the genin teams helped clear out the last of the criminals and invaders who had tried to take advantage of their home. Finally, the Jonin resolved their problem. The woman accepted the only way she would have been able to get the diary from him would have been a full out battle, and she just couldn't risk seriously injuring her best friend's lover, and the father of her unborn child. Mitarashi Anko wondered how Sarutobi Asuma would act, when he found out what the situation was __there__. Surely the Old Man wouldn't kill his son, anyway. Now all she had to concentrate on was how to break the news to her team, and prepare an exit strategy in case things went catastrophic._

It was six days after the Breaking of Suna when a number of political adjustments started to take place in Konoha.

Utatane Koharu stood respectfully in front of the shell of what had once been her first lover before he had become a legend, before he had first become the Hokage, and before his will and purpose had been sapped by conflict with his tender heart. Now she had to ally herself with forces that she privately despised in order to steer what had once been a magnificent ninja toward the path of true wisdom. If along the way the Utatane family picked up a few (comparatively few) crumbs, it was only right that those who did the hard work of really guiding the Village Hidden in the Leaves towards its potential greatness received a fair compensation for their hidden and subtle efforts to secure its future for the Village. Selfish aristocrats from traitorous families shouldn't hoard the resources that would be needed to repair the damage from the disaster that had come to their home six days before.

She had already almost convinced herself the whole fiasco of the Chunin Exams was Sarutobi's fault, and soon she would manage to suppress the memory how enthusiastic she had been for the opportunity to show off to the other ninja villages the power and beauty of her homeland.

"It makes no sense," she said, "to have a clan with only one member possess all the privileges and immunities that are accorded to real, flourishing, clans. That that clan is the treacherous Uchiha is even more absurd. Keeping so much prime land inside the walls off of the market and unproductive can only slow our efforts to recover from the recent war, if we allow the selfish Uchiha child to continue to deny resources that can be used for the common good."

"Still, by the normal laws of inheritance, even if the Uchiha clan is dissolved, most of that valuable land should still be the property of Uchiha Sasuke. At least he can be proven as a loyal ninja; he's even shown he can ignore the silly feud his family has always had with the Hyuga, when a real emergency is taking place," Sarutobi said, his voice was a bit thin and half dubious.

Koharu seethed at this weak-willed sentimentality. If only Itachi had done his job right and there had been a complete cleansing of the Uchiha it would have eliminated this obstacle. The new housing development scheme could have been taken care of years ago, to the great profit of the Utatane family, if only the Uchiha problem had really been finished off. Her grandson was poised to take the lion's share of the profits when the land was confiscated, sold off to the right people, and then passed on for development. It wasn't fair her family should suffer for the sake of obsolete legal formalities!

"It's probably for his own good, anyway," Koharu said. "It's not wise for a young boy to have so much wealth. It will just spoil him, and lead him into grandiose ideas and political aspirations that are dangerous to public order. Consider; he's notoriously anti-social, but lately he's been actually palling around with the Beast, and making connections with other clans like the Nara and Hyuga. There's starting to be the odor of a conspiracy about all that. When an Uchiha is friendly with a Hyuga, something rotten is going on."

She probably should have worn a little of her Black Orchid perfume, she thought. Sarutobi was being unusually thick and unresponsive today. A little of the will-sapping aromatic potion she had been blending in with the scent that brought him so many good memories from their long-ago liaisons would have put him in the proper, agreeably rubber-stamping mood. Perhaps she should arrange for an afternoon meeting, and come with her full arsenal of 'persuaders'?

"I understand that that lovely house you had built a few years ago was destroyed in the Invasion," the Hokage said.

Koharu was touched by his consideration, proof of his still-fresh affection. "Damaged by one of those damn snakes. And afterwards some looter set it on fire; it's a total loss. But the worse thing is how many souvenirs of our days together, and our missions from the old times were destroyed. Those can never be replaced; I can't even imagine how I'll afford to rebuild. "

The Hokage slid an opened scroll towards her. "The evaluation and payment from the insurance firm has been expedited, by my order. As you see, the complete value you claim on your land-tax has been approved. It is only fair that those who are important are first to get their rice bowls filled."

"It's worth at least four times as much," she broke out. "After all these years of service to the Village am I expected to live in some hovel?"

"Perhaps you could sell off some of the 20,000 square meter plot of land in the Uchiha Compound that your grandson has marked should be given to you for free as a 'consultation fee' after it was to be sold at bargain prices to his real estate firm? Maybe it could be sold to provide the difference between what you pay taxes on, and what your house was really worth? Or perhaps there could be another interest-free loan, never to be repaid, from Utatane-owned construction companies that I have complacently given too many no-bid contracts on official projects to, in order to 'avoid needless paperwork and speed the building of needed improvements?'"

The Hokage continued, his voice roughening as he spoke to his councilor, and long-ago lover: "I admit, you were wise when you advised me years ago not to dilly-dally, and propose to the Daimyo a younger Hokage candidate, even if he wasn't as strong in jutsu as he was in policy. I was arrogant then, thinking I could take up the burden again, and I will have to pay for it now. As will you, unfortunately."

'Sarutobi is acting insane,' she thought, and tried to back out of the Hokage's office before something regrettable and irrevocable was said. She found she was frozen in place however, and couldn't move a muscle.

"Utatane Koharu, do you have any defense against the charges that you have accepted bribes to abuse your offices in charge of public monies? That you have used drugs to influence the Hokage into making certain decisions? That you have conspired to kill innocent citizens and ninja of Konoha?"

"You agreed!" Koharu snarled, "That you were weak-willed and stupid enough to be fooled was your own fault! How can you punish me, and go blithely on as our Hokage? You're hands are just as bloody!"

"Yes," said Sarutobi Hiruzen said mildly, "my hands are as bloody, and only after they have been washed even more crimson will I be able to properly apologize.

"Utatane Koharu, your grandson is being interrogated, again, even as we speak. Anyone he has informed of… certain matters… will be dealt with. His sentence is already written. You are declared a criminal, guilty of two capital charges. Sentence to be executed immediately."

Before she had a chance to be outraged that her dupe and oldest friend had turned on her, she felt the cold thread of a wire garrote placed around her neck and tightened.

'_They'd all been taking it rather well,' Sasuke thought as he looked around to the others in the small apartment they were using as a safe-house. Sensei had stopped crying with silent sobs, as Sakura held and comforted her. Naruto was looking at a map of the surrounding countryside, going over the possible escape routes, and was considering what they knew about the security patrols and checkpoints currently out around the village. And him, Uchiha Sasuke? He was waiting to find out if ANBU assassins had been assigned to eliminate him as a pebble in the shoe of the Third Hokage of Konohagakure, Sarutobi Hiruzen._

_His calmness, he decided, must be evidence of some terrible mental defect. No one should be this composed when he discovered that every deep fear and paranoid fantasy he'd had were actually optimistic takes on the real situation. When the Shadow Clone that Naruto had left at the Uchiha Compound disguised as Sasuke gave them warning by being 'killed,' they'd know that Asuma had been a fool in trusting that his father wasn't totally rotted and corrupt. A very decent fool; Sasuke would always feel a debt of gratitude for him carrying the live coals in his bare hands, so to speak. Sensei had promised to cover his escape; that would probably lead to her execution… she'd be ruined and imprisoned at the very least. Naruto would be helping her; he also was too loyal to actually turn missing nin, despite all the 'great love' of him in the Village… but he was Naruto, and really there wasn't any other course for him. _

_Sakura had made it clear she was going with Sasuke; no fan-girl idiocy, just a fact he was going to have to live with. He was very glad of that. Tamaki was still in the Hospital. As she wasn't a ninja, and uninformed of everything, she'd probably have a few rough days, but the Yamanakas would be able to clear her of any knowledge of wrong-doing easily enough. The cats had been briefed to go to cover if everything went to pot, and luckily none of the kittens had been born yet to slow up their hiding._

_He looked back at Sensei again. Yesterday, when she had suddenly ordered them to come to this prepared refuge using all the stealth they could, he had wondered what was going on. When they had arrived she had sat them down in a circle and given them a background briefing of the situation. He'd known about her suspicions of financial shenanigans by the Utatane, so that didn't come as much of a surprise to him, though it didn't seem enough reason to go to the current level of concealment. She had struggled then, for a few moments, trying to say something. Finally, she had pulled Naruto with her into the bathroom of the place for a half-hour conversation. _

_Sakura and he hadn't tried to overhear, figuring it was just another earth-shattering revelation about their teammate. He'd tell them what it was sooner or later; he always did._

_Naruto had finally come out, more carrying Sensei than leading her. His fair complexion was now almost sheet-white, and Sensei had tear streaks on her cheeks. Sasuke clamped an iron control over his emotions; someone had hurt her. It did no good to engage in emotional displays until that somebody had been made to pay._

"I'm gonna finish the briefing," Naruto said, "'cause I was too dumb to duck out of it. Anyone who doesn't want to be involved in possible treason kindly head out of here. Except Sasuke, 'cause it's all about him."

"That's good." Sasuke smiled tightly as he spoke. "You know how much I like the topic of conversation to be me. And probably how I can fulfill my modest goals in life."

Naruto sighed, then took up the conversation again. "It's… complicated, but it's about Uchiha business, old Uchiha business. I notice you ain't leaving Sakura-chan... good. It'll be like working without a leg or something if we had to figure things out with you gone."

The girl looked up and smiled; when they were done she'd tell them about the job proposal she'd gotten the other day. With all the good karma they'd been building up with the Hokage and important clans they should be able to twist things to their advantage.

"Right, so this is what Sensei told me. Asuma-sensei was patrolling down near where the Utatane Mansion was with his Team. Anko-sensei had been asking him to get some uncooked records and financials on Utatane Hikaru. Well, Asuma had learned a lot about finding hidden documents when he was one of the Guardian Ninjas workin' for the Daimyo in the Capital, and what with the place being busted up by the snake summons he was able to locate where stuff like that was kept. Then, when he was sure he had what he wanted it, he set the whole place on fire so there'd be no proof that anything was taken. Ashes left; he took the only real evidence of anything with him.

"Anyway… before he turned it over to Sensei he looked through it, and there was a diary along with the financial ledgers. Utatane Koharu's diary. It had stuff on the Uchiha Massacre."

Sasuke didn't know he could naturally emit a growl. Itachi's incoherent writings spiraled through his mind. Sakura and Sensei looked at him with concern, but he shook his head; he wasn't going to go out of control…. yet.

Naruto went on: "Knowing this stuff could be fatal, but legally I'm not sure what it really is, 'cause it's so secret that they couldn't even put it down somewhere to ban people from talking about it. I think it's your basic 'if you find this out, just kill yourself and save ANBU the time and effort' type of secret. Gods and Demons, I can see Sensei's problem now, I'm trying to dance around saying it, too!

"The Uchiha Clan was plotting a coup, the Hokage found out about it, tried to negotiate it away. That wasn't working too well. His counselors, the inner bunch that mean something, ganged up and wore the Old Man down until he ended up using the negotiations as a cover for a pre-emptive strike. Uchiha Itachi was ANBU, and still loyal; he said that he could do the job of breaking the plot up. They gave him the go ahead.

"Now, I don't know what they were thinkin', but instead of just arresting the thirty or so upper ranks that were leading the coup, they somehow decided that they was going to kill all the Uchiha. And Itachi volunteered for it, and he did. And that makes no sense three different ways, but it happened. I can't explain it, or excuse it, and what happened was a crime."

Naruto took a deep breath, and checked out his teammates. Sensei was holding herself rigid, Sakura was so shocked and startled her mouth was hanging open; and Sasuke's face was flushed red, and without realizing it he had called up his Sharingan as if an enemy was in the room. Naruto decided he might as well finish emptying the pail of bad news.

"Sasuke, your Mom and Dad were in on the coup, so they were going to get the axe no matter what, realistically. The Council figured about half the Uchiha ninja were involved, one way or another. The others weren't let in, or were passively against it. But they had to go too for some reason. And all the civilian Uchiha, and all the kids… except Itachi got an exception for you."

At this point Naruto realized he couldn't catch his breath, and bent over for a moment, just pulling air into his lungs.

"Itachi took all the blame and went missing, so everything was put on him. The Council and Hokage pretended they didn't know anything about anything, and thought that solved everything. Except why Old Man Hokage went crazy along with his very elite Inner Council. There might be some ex…extenuating circumstances, but that ain't enough excuse for the Hokage. Sasuke!" Naruto snapped out, "Why were the actions taken sub-optimal?" He sounded, for a minute, just like Sensei, asking them to do a post-mission critique.

"Having ANBU deal with a coup with a surgical strike would have shown that the Hokage was on top of things, and to be feared. Instead having hundreds slaughtered made the Village government look weak and ignorant," Sasuke said.

As was usual with the after-mission analysis, Sakura took the next element: "Eliminating the Uchiha, including the innocent, weakened the Village unnecessarily. Culling and monitoring, with hostages taken, would have been far better for the Village, rather than losing such a powerful blood-line."

Naruto put in his contribution: "Relying on one agent was simply bad planning. There shoulda been other survivors than Sasuke. The Old Masters of ninja craft agreed to something that just shouldn't have worked. The advantage of a limited number of possible information leakers was insufficient to make up for the sheer amount of good luck that they had to rely on to get that shitty plan to actually succeed."

Sensei then did her usual wrapping up, in a croaking voice and with an angry snarling tone: "If the story ever got out, and now it has, the current ruling body would lose all legitimacy. Who could feel safe with people like that, who would wipe out infants and whole innocent families as their preferred way of solving internal problems?"

Naruto nodded. "Right now Asuma is presenting the whole bundle of trouble to the Hokage, along with the usual 'I've got copies that will be released in the event of my death' speech. Oh, Sasuke? Your death too. But there might be another butt-headed decision, so we're hunkering down here and I got a really good Shadow Clone at your place to attract any ANBU who might be sent to pick you up. I'd wondered why Sensei had made me do that on the sly before we got here."

"I-I…" Sasuke stammered. "My family! My land, everything… how dare they… everything!"

Anko pulled herself together, gulped and looked at him, trying to show her concern and sincerity by the steadiness of her gaze. "You're my genin; I'm to teach you not only skills but rightful conduct. Asuma and I knew you'd be under an unbearable strain to do something, anything , when you found out.

"We agreed you had to be informed, it's your right as the Head of the Uchiha. And we take the Founding Compact seriously… but if you went off and demanded justice right then and there; you would be too easy for someone to just make disappear. As your Sensei… I order you: if an assassination squad from Konoha attempts anything against you… I order you to flee the Village, and don't look back. Naruto and I will guard your escape, even against the wishes of our Hokage, even though for ourselves, we will not leave. Our stupid natures I guess."

Sasuke knew what that statement had cost her: when she had been abandoned by her sensei, when everyone in the Village had thought she was just a traitor waiting for her chance, it had been Sarutobi who had shielded her, and given her an opportunity to redeem herself in the eyes of her peers.

In a totally matter-of-fact voice Sakura said, "I'm going with you, of course."

Anko continued: "Asuma, right about now, should be making some very insolent demands about the future governance of Konohagakure, and reparations due you in treasure and blood. Please accept our weakness that we could not ask the Hokage to… to…"

At that point Anko suddenly bolted to her feet, ran and almost made it to the bathroom before her stomach emptied. All three of her student at her side in a moment, cleaning her up and helping her back to the couch.

Sakura thought: 'I'll miss Sensei and Naruto so much.'

Naruto realized that growing up and becoming a responsible person hurt more than a beating.

For Sasuke, it was the final answer to the question about what his team's loyalties were. Sakura would just never let go, and now he didn't mind it at all. In the end Naruto was still willing to die for him, but not betray the ideal he had of what the Village Hidden in the Leaves should be. And Sensei was willing to do the same, and throw away everything she had worked for over the hard years, just because it was right. It was a little disappointing in a way, but not a betrayal at all. He could accept their limitations, and still not lose his connection to them. And they would, if the worst happened, be very high up on the list of those he would eventually ask justice for.

Then he laughed a little, inside. Should he put his own Mother, his own Father, lower on the list? If they had been attempting to violently take over the Village they had at least been criminally stupid, and not just culpably treasonous. Once the coup preparations had been discovered they should have either surrendered gracefully before it was a matter of blood, or instantly fled. He'd have to think about that in the coming hours.

Itachi… Itachi was now a bit more understandable.

He'd still have to go, though.

_Shimura Danzo looked out from the wide circular platform on top of the Hokage Residence, the tallest building in the town. Seven days ago the streets had streamed with civilian refugees hurrying to get to the shelters, bands of invaders trying to slaughter anyone they could find, and nightmarish serpents. Now all but the most badly damaged houses were the scene of repair and fresh paint, and the complete loses, such as the Utatane Mansion, were well on their way to becoming cleared empty lots, suitable for fresh construction. Danzo breathed in the cool, fresh air. His village was strong, each setback (and this one could be completely blamed on Sarutobi's failure to settle with Orochimaru all those years ago) only caused its mighty heart to beat more strongly._

"_Danzo," Sarutobi (his almost friend and always rival) said, "I wonder if you would give me your opinion on something. Though the Chunin Exams were…terminated unexpectedly, I thought a few promotions might still be in order. Please tell me what you think of my proposals." With that he tossed a small scroll coiled around a wooden dowel, tied with a ribbon._

_Danzo caught it with his un-bandaged arm and pulled the ribbon loose with a quick jerk of his teeth. As he read the scroll there were a few things he didn't understand; some were about the names on the list, but the greatest one was why Sarutobi was involving him in the selection at all. Still… it was pleasant to be involved in rewarding deserving Konoha genin, and he appreciated the sign of trust he had just been given._

"_Hyuga Hinata. Yes, her of course. Have you heard what they've started calling her? Uchiha Sasuke… did he really manage to stand off one of those damn zombies? And he won his match too, a fine selection. Aburame Shino? Well… he wasn't in the final fights, but there are very good reports about how he handled a squad of genin in clearing infiltrators from the Stadium and the streets. Haruno Sakura; won her bout, single-handedly defended a group of notables on their way to shelters, __and __destroyed one of those snakes. __Very__ good choice there; I've heard rumors that the Daimyo's court is interested in her. I'm surprised you don't have the Nara boy there; he did go into the Arena with the Suna Demon. That should be worth something."_

_Sarutobi shook his head. "He was just serving as a distraction, all the time. I can't think of anything really notable he did during the crisis. Not that he disgraced himself, just… he acted like a typical Nara."_

_Danzo smirked at a sudden thought. "I don't see the Container's name here either. Having over a hundred enemies surrender to him personally can't be ignored. And he managed it all without even having a hint of his prisoner reveal itself to the crowd. It's almost odd, that scapegrace seems to be actually turning into a decent ninja. Wounding a Sannin twice! Not bad for the worst of his class at the Academy, is it?"_

"_Yes, Naruto," Sarutobi smiled, his open gaze resting on Danzo. "To me he's like the loveable scamp of a nephew that no one in the family wants to mention in polite company. All those stories about him being a sorcerer… just a prank of his that went over far too well. Though I admit it did make him more valuable during the roundup of the infiltrators. Still, even the best of pranks is hardly grounds for a promotion to Chunin. Though I'm sure it will happen soon; he'll want to be in position to succeed the one who will take my place as Hokage._

"_I've finally made up my mind, Shimura Danzo. Before the end of next month I'll no longer be Hokage. My bones ache too much nowadays, and I must confess that all too often I feel myself unfocused and with my mind wandering back to happier and more youthful days. Now don't pretend this isn't news you haven't been waiting for for quite a while."_

_Despite his usual iron self-control Danzo sucked in a quick breath of air; he even seemed to be feeling a bit giddy on hearing the news. Something he had been waiting years for, and had almost given up hoping for, was shortly to come true. To whom could Sarutobi turn to for a worthy candidate? Hatake Kakashi would have been the most likely candidate if he hadn't been both psychological disturbed and dead; the two Sannin not tainted by treason were, regrettably, useless degenerates. This was to be Shimura Danzo's turn!_

"_Old friend," the Hokage continued, "on this day you will be a participant in an essential part of the cleansing of Konohagakure from a long period of decay and corruption." He slowly approached his old rival and companion. The serene smile on the Hokage's face suddenly started sending off alarms in Danzo's deeper and more paranoid levels of thought. No one should that happy to turn over their supreme office to someone they'd had so many arguments with over the years. Danzo took a step back, and felt the parapet at the roof edge touch his back. Suddenly, he could sense all the pent up killing rage Sarutobi had been concealing, as the old man lunged forward, a kunai appearing in his hand. Before Danzo could find something to do a Kawarimi substitution with on the bare rooftop, the Hokage was grappling with him, the kunai first stabbing deep into him, then becoming tangled in his robes. Only the complete unexpectedness of the assault prevented Danzo from feeling the pain of the piercing of his bowels. As he grabbed the Hokage's hand to prevent the knife from being used again, the two men toppled over the edge of the solid railing, out into the air._

_Despite his best efforts to twist himself around, the sling that he used as support for his bandaged (and as camouflage for his supposedly crippled) arm inhibited his efforts: when they hit the broad, sloping tile roof that covered the main living areas of the building it was the Hokage who ended up on top, the weight of his body driving the breath out of Danzo. Together they rolled to the edge of that roof section, still twenty-five meters above the slate walkway that surrounded the mansion. Any ninja of skill who was prepared, and had some chakra in reserve, could easily survive (if with some degree of damage) such a fall, as long as he could get his body orientated to land properly. While that ninja was in a life and grapple with someone equally skilled, and the both of them were twisting and tumbling on both the horizontal and vertical axis at once, landing properly was unlikely to happen. Add in the seventy year old bones both men were cursed with and whoever took the direct impact on the stone pathway below was in for some severe damage. Danzo head-butted the Hokage directly onto his forehead protector, welcoming the pain as he felt the metal edge of it tear free the bandage over half his face that the covered one of his secret weapons, the stolen Sharingan eye of Uchiha Shisui implanted where his own right eye should be. Then they plunged together over the lip of the slanted roof._

_Now, Danzo knew, it was all a matter of timing. The greatest power of the fully developed Sharingan would have to be used, the Inzanagi. It should allow him to turn all his wounds to just illusion, according to the secret research notes from Orochimaru that his Root agents in ANBU had managed to get to before they were put away under lock and key under the Hokage's hypocritical definition of 'forbidden knowledge.' As he struggled with Sarutobi, Danzo kept a running mental log of how long they had been falling, and therefore, how far. As a great ninja veteran he knew that the moment to act was…NOW!_

_In an instant he was… gone to another realm of being. Nothing was hot, nothing cold. Things were neither bright nor dark, but a grayish void without perspective. There was no sound but the rasp of his too old lungs pulling in whatever passed for air in this place that was only as real as his mind made it. He concentrated on the pain in his side, where he saw the oozing wound of Sarutobi's first attack as it continued to send jabs of pain. The rawness of his throat was another reminder that Inzanagi was only supposed to make any injury taken __while__ you were using it an illusion. He'd have to get treatment for those injuries he had brought with him into this place. As he pressed a hand against his side he tried to remember something else, some price that had to be paid for using the powerful forbidden technique. Ah yes, a Sharingan eye would have to be sacrificed for the use of Inzanagi. Well, he had prepared for that years ago, learning how to prepare seals that would deflect the ruining effect of trying to channel too much power through his limited connection to the bloodlines of the Sage of the Six Paths. _

_He unwrapped his right arm; the one that everyone thought was crippled, and unveiled a staring eye implanted in it, its Sharingan marks twirling. With a triumphant grunt Danzo slapped onto the eye a written seal he had pulled from a pocket in his robe. Now it would, on the instant he returned to the physical world, take the damage from the technique, and spare for him Shisui's more powerful eye. One down of the ten he had kept hidden there. He wondered if an actual Uchiha, and not just someone who had stolen their eyes and had them carefully attached to his chakra system, would be under the same limitation. In any case, he would have nine more of these souvenirs from the night his planning had broken the over-dangerous clan. He chuckled; it was if he was playing some child's game, and had managed to earn enough points to earn nine extra 'lives' to help carry him through to the end of his adventure._

_He could (should) use the powers of Inzanagi to just materialize himself at the Hospital, or if he wanted to be cautious, to one of his secret strike forces' well stocked hidden barracks. But he had one thing he was determined to do first, before he went or did anything else. He had by then, through sheer self-control, mastered the pain from his injuries and his fight. Now he would, after all those years of waiting and planning, finally see Sarutobi Hiruzen lying broken at his feet. He willed himself to appear into the phenomenal world standing proudly on his feet, a few paces from the last Sarutobi Hokage; the rest of Sarutobi's family would have to be eliminated as soon as possible as basic political hygiene. _

_He came back to the world of Earth and Air, and saw the bleeding form of Sarutobi Hiruzen lying broken on the pavement. And then he fell to his knees. The croaking last words of the Hokage of Konohagakure were the last thing Shimura Danzo heard for the next ten hours._

"_Nice trick… Shimura. Never figured you for it… but I studied you… years. Knew you were faking… and the ribbon on the Promotion Scroll was… drugged."_

_Those were the last words of the Professor, the God of Ninja, the Fire Shadow of Konoha; spoken as Shimura Danzo pitched forward, unconscious. _

The ANBU team that Sarutobi had hand-selected and assigned to patrol the grounds and secure any "evidence" that appeared immediately rallied to the body of the Hokage. They were startled by the sudden appearance of someone in a ANBU style mask that seemed to appear from nowhere step out of the noontime shadow of the building, and was swooping down towards Danzo's body. If the Invasion hadn't been so recent, perhaps a more hesitant response would have occurred. But Wolf-mask had just seen her leader fall, evidently attacked for the second time in a week. No filthy infiltrator or traitor was going to make her fail her duties. Before the Moth-masked stranger (and Wolf knew that Moth wasn't in current service) could scoop up Elder Shimura, the fallen councilor was enclosed in a jutsu-created dome of earth. Instantly a battle broke out at the base of the Residence

The Moth actually had to leap over the suddenly appearing barrier, and then pivoted and started to run back to the dark shadow of the building. Wolf was leader of the Hokage-selected team for reasons beyond her ferocity. With some instinctive knowledge she couldn't account for, she knew that the Moth had come from the Shadow, and wanted to return to that place of advantage. A flurry of shuriken flew out of Wolf's left hand, as a kunai was drawn with her right one. After the briefest of hesitations her companion, Owl, understood what his leader was trying to do, and drew his 60cm Ninjato blade, and then charged directly at the interloper.

Moth-mask spun in place, a glittering golden colored dust coming off his extended right hand. Wolf's thrown kunai struck right into the middle of the glowing band, and stopped in mid-air. Owl, moving too fast to avoid what looked like a chakra barrier of some sort, channeled power into his legs and leaped over the head of Moth, stabbing downward as he did a flip. The stranger blocked the stab with a forearm that scattered sparks from where the sword point hit it.

Meanwhile, the third member of the ANBU team, Leopard, had scooped up the Hokage's body and was rushing off the field of battle to bring him to the Hospital. He was using Body Flicker Techniques one after another to get the Hokage to what looked like his only chance of survival. The price by the time the journey ended, a kilometer and a half away, would be terrible.

As Owl went high, Wolf went low, preceding herself with a blast of flame out of the palm of her right hand, trying to bounce it off of the ground and into the enemy. Diving under the descending golden barrier she drew a 15cm long bladed hunting knife with her left hand. She almost made it through to her opponent, but her right foot was caught in the descending chakra-charged particles, and stopped her body with a jerk. She still slashed out in front of her with the knife is as wide an arc as possible, and felt the tip nick into something.

Moth had naturally enough recoiled at the line of fire that had rebounded from the ground and was due to hit him waist-high. The sudden appearance of a knife blade made him dodge back even faster and right into his own Golden Amber Wall. If he had had a second more he could have kept it the right distance away from his body, but now he was as caught as the miserable ANBU lackey at his feet. Desperately he canceled the barrier, and staggered a bit as he fell down about 20 centimeters or so. His left leg also suddenly notified him that he had been wounded in his shin. If only he could get to a reliable piece of shade he could use the Shadow Road to rescue Danzo-sama from the earthen prison he was in; it would be sunless enough inside that dome.

Before the Moth could draw a kunai and rid himself of the prone Wolf, he had to dodge a sudden burst of senbons that Owl threw out in a fan shaped pattern. Moth stared for a second at his standing enemy. Owl was now between Moth and the shadow of the Residence, and the Wolf had rolled off to the side and was getting on to its feet. Moth risked a quick look behind himself; he must have jumped closer to the earth-dome than he had thought. Now all he had to do was to dive over and behind it and he would be in its shadow! Then it would be a simple thing to walk in Shadow into the dome and retreat through the world of darkness to a safe base. The thought was an instant mother to the deed, and the ninja dove up and forward, reaching out with his arms to use the top of the dome as a pivoting point for a safe, rolling landing. The surprise Moth felt when he seemed to go right through the waist-high structure, and when an instant later his head and shoulders made contact with the hard-baked ground, was profound. Before the contact could be shaken off there was a painful smash on the top of his head, and then another one, knocking him out for hours.

"Don't you wish you were decent with genjutsu?" Owl asked his team leader.

A growl came out from the Wolf mask. This would be another meal she'd have to buy him, payment on their long standing bet on how useful his specialty was in a tactical situation.

For a second she thought over things, and then she reached her decision. "T&I, right now. Inform Shikaku that something important is up. Oh, and send a messenger to Sarutobi Asuma, that his father is ill. No one else to be informed until Ibiki or a higher level clears it."

With that she collapsed the true earthen dome, picked up Danzo as Owl did the same for the Moth-mask, and they left at full speed.

_The Hundred-skin Shadow Clone playing the part of Uchiha Sasuke looked up when it heard a diffident knock at the door to the study of the Uchiha Clan Head's mansion. With just Sasuke (and the cats) rattling around in it, it was a parody of what it should have been. But it was a symbol of Sasuke's determination to make everything broken, whole again. _

_With Tamaki not yet recovered enough to leave her hospital bed, Sasuke-clone wondered who would be both willing to enter the supposedly haunted Uchiha Compound, and also polite enough to knock and wait for permission to enter._

"_Enter."_

_An ANBU with a spider motif on his mask entered, and sketched a bow. "Uchiha-sama (after all, here the mere genin was, technically, a clan head) I'm sorry to bother you, but there is an urgent need for Uzumaki at the Headquarters. Nara Shikaku, Jonin Commander, requires him to use one of his peculiar techniques to help interrogate a special prisoner. We haven't found him at any of his usual spots. Please help us locate the devious little git."_

"_Where you one of those who used to locate him after his schoolboy pranks?" Sasuke-clone's voice drawled out in full aristocratic hauteur._

"_I was one of those who tried, anyway. I never actually won the betting pool by being the one to find him."_

_After a moment of consideration Sasuke-clone delivered what it thought was a suitable reply. "The Dobe is currently in meditation at a secure location, trying to find inner peace and calm. I will __probably__ be safe disturbing him, being a familiar face. It is unfortunate that you are unknown to him. It might lead to… complications best avoided. I shall have to go alone to give him the message."_

_Spider gave a silent nod at Uchiha-sama's statement. If the Beast-Container felt he was in need of some quiet time to find inner peace, no-one who knew the facts about him was likely to give an objection. That the Uchiha was willing to beard the Fox in whatever hidden den he was holed up in was a confirmation to the rumors floating around that the boy was so mentally disturbed that he had absolutely no fear. As it was also reliably reported that Uchiha-sama had faced off against, and survived, a revenant Hokage during the Invasion, there was already a betting pool on how long it would take him to be inducted into ANBU. Frankly, boy geniuses gave Spider the creeps, but they were so damn useful in pinch. He was going to try to put his money down on two years, six months._

_After the ANBU respectfully bowed himself out, the clone considered something. There seemed to be no theoretical reason the technique wouldn't work. It would only dissipate one Clone-skin to inform its creator what had gone on, and would continue to cover this location on its original mission. Carefully it prepared for the delicate operation, and acted! _

_With a puff it disappeared completely._

_Though he wasn't especially chakra sensitive, Spider felt a sudden change in the chakra level of the area, and followed up his suspicion by rushing back to the study. Knocking, then boldly entering a moment later, he looked around the empty room. No other doors? Check. Windows closed and locked from the inside? Check. No secret exits? A few moments spent searching. Check. Spider resolved to advance his bet for an invitation for the Uchiha to join to within six months. _

At the safe-house Naruto spasmed for a second. Receiving the memories of a one Hundred-skinned Clone was somehow easier to handle than a hundred One-skinned ones, but it still had a sharp kick. The news he had now was certainly interesting, he just wasn't too sure how useful it was. Did the Hokage really need him for an interrogation? Whose, his own? Was Sasuke safe, or was this just an attempt to locate him for convenient 'disposal'? There was only one way to find out.

"Well, guys. The Old Man has finally decided to turn the funny hat over to me or something. Anyway, the ANBU that showed up at Sasuke's place didn't want to clean up any loose ends, he just wanted to find me for some sort of help at interrogation. Chakra Flood I guess, but I thought they had all sorts of chemicals that could do the same chakra burnout thing at T&I."

Anko perked up at the last bit, she had worked for a while at T&I, Torture and Interrogation, and had a suspicion about why the Hokage might want Naruto.

"Yes, there is that sort of stuff. It's not usually suitable for field work, though. The important thing is, Team, that the most important officials, or those with lots of secrets, can be either immunized against some of drugs used for interrogation, or made allergic. Then, if someone drugs them they'll die before anything can be spilled to a Yamanaka or someone with similar talents. If some big-shot is being given the full treatment they might not want to risk him dying before they empty his skull, so getting Naruto involved would make sense. It's just… we still don't know what our status is. Frankly, this is starting to get on my nerves."

As she looked like death warmed over having a bad hangover day after a week-long bender; and for the first time in her team's memory had had an emotional crisis, none of the genin tried to argue with her about that. They were getting a little nervous themselves.

"Well," Naruto said, "I gotta go. As things stand now it has to be treated like a legitimate order. What I'm gonna do is leave a bunch of Shadows here, and send a strong one back to Sasuke's place to replace the idiot who tried to make up a new dispelling technique on the fly. I'll dispel one of the ones here when I get into the arms of ANBU, and one when I leave 'em. If all go at once, it means I'm in trouble. That don't mean this was all a set-up, but it won't be a good sign.

"If this is all straight I'll go to Sasuke's myself, and get one of the slicker cats to bring you a message. Anyway, if the clones disperse one at a time and spaced out, it won't mean much. Ya gonna be on your own for real positive confirmation, but since Sensei was going to volunteer us for Aggressor Force Infiltration work to improve town security before this Chunin thing came up, I got a feeling you'll be able to figure out a way ta handle that.

"Anything else we should arrange?"

At that Sasuke spread out the copy of the Village map, and plotted out a route for Naruto to take if he was under coercion and a different one if he was running free, as well as when to pass certain landmarks. They all agreed that if the new Sasuke-clone was attacked by Konoha forces a pre-briefed cat should scratch up the door of a certain clothing store that had used to deny Naruto service.

Just before Naruto left… all the clones made… he had a final comment to make: "Things will be a hell of a lot easier when you guys got the reserves and can make Shadows yourself. Sensei… you probably do, and as soon as we get ourselves some down-time you are going to have to learn how. And no back talk on this. Think about it, goin' out on a hot date with yourself; someone who really knows what'll please ya!" He barely managed to dodge the twirling kunai that hurtled at him. He left while Sakura blushed, Anko fumed, and Sasuke laughed.

_It took most of an hour before Naruto was finally at the place he was to do his hush-hush and most urgent services. After showing up at the Hokage's offices he had been passed from one person to another a little higher in the hierarchy of Konoha's ninja forces, with an occasional halt while he had to prove that he was in fact Uzumaki Naruto to one or another suspicious officer. The unspoken, but obvious, tension in the air was contagious, and if Naruto hadn't already been paranoid he would have become so in short order anyway._

_But none of the psychic concern was particularly pointed at __him__. Something else was going on, and Naruto got the distinct impression that for some of the normally placid office workers he passed (usually Chunin who had settled into the high part of their career) hysteria was only one notch higher in their emotional spectrum._

_As he finally walked down the long underground corridor to the interrogation cells, accompanied by a woman with no distinguishing uniform, and a security clearance that was evidently high enough to obstruct low-flying clouds, he went over the number of ways he had messed up this little jaunt. What he couldn't do was figure out what he should have done instead. _

_Finally, he was led into a large windowless room. Air came in through a small screened vent, and the light was in general, low. Pushed to the side were a table and several chairs, and strapped to a wheeled medical style gurney under a set of brilliant spotlights, was a crippled, naked old man. He had a bandage low down on his side, and fluids dripping into him._

_Naruto felt he should be able to place the man, but the face just wasn't clicking for him. And there were distractions: one of the man's eyes had recently been scooped out of his head, and next to the gurney was a table with a number of drip bottles and wires leading out from oddly shaped boxes, connected to what was evidently the recently detached arm of the man. An arm with a row of eyes on it, staring out onto the world. Sharingan eyes. And one that Naruto was certain was once another, but now was just a burnt out pit in the flesh. With the weird body modifications, Naruto guessed that this person must be a high-level Sound ninja that had recently been caught; they did things like this to themselves, after all._

_Ibiki was there (Naruto remembered the name from the start of the Exams, and Sensei had from time to time mentioned the man) and it was him who now gave the commands, even though Yamanaka Inoichi was there also, and he was supposed to be a big shot Jonin. Now that his eyes had adjusted to the light Naruto even noticed, besides two medical techs who were checking on the arm and preparing to do something or other to the old man if needed, Ino was in a corner of the room. She was looking subdued, even intimidated. Ino, quiet and timid. What the hell was going on?_

"_Uzumaki," Ibiki said, "erase Danzo-sama's chakra. Leave him just enough to stay alive. Can you do that and have enough spare strength to do another one? We have an odd customer in the next room that needs the same treatment."_

'_Danzo-sama…' Shimura Danzo the Village councilor? Naruto put it together a bit then. The old guy always went around with half his face bandaged, and his right arm too. The old man on the table had his right eye recently removed, and his arm with (count them…) nine Sharingan-capable eyes also. Naruto didn't know what you could do with eyes implanted in odd parts of your body, but evidently the experts of T&I were being very cautious on that front._

"_Chakra Flood doesn't really work like that, but don't worry. I haven't killed anyone yet, Ibiki-san. And, yeah, I can handle two in a row. Though I'm glad ya got medics around. An old guy like him… he might be hanging on by a thread in the first place and decide to have a heart attack on ya just for spite."_

_With that he gathered and released his Chakra Flood, expecting some weird and dangerous reaction or other just because Danzo was some sort of big shot, and people like that seemed to know a lot of things that they'd forbidden anyone else to learn. But… evidently knowing all the old stuff didn't necessarily give you a leg up on the new stuff, and except for the body twitching and Danzo's bladder releasing, there didn't seem to be any side-effects._

_Inoichi came forward then, his hand on Ino's shoulder. "I'll walk in his mind, daughter. It won't be as clean and simple as the Suna girl's. You'll need some help on dealing with the sort of thing you'll find there, or else give up sleeping for a while, so I'll go first to clean out the worst parts. You read me, and let your mouth work with what you find. Only what I'm doing… no mischief, child! _

"_Uzumaki, take down what Ino says; we'll want a written record. No use getting the wrong people in trouble because of a mistake in remembering things, is there?"_

_Naruto wondered when he had been given this sudden jump in security clearance. The last he remembered he was a genin who was barely allowed to know where the bathrooms where in the Hokage Offices. Now he was dealing with 'cut your throat before reading' stuff on a regular basis. He wasn't sure that this was the kind of promotion that he was looking for. Evidently just being allowed (ordered, rather) to burn out a political figure's chakra had put him in a category where he was trusted for the duration, and in up past his shoulders in the political swamps. Lucky him, lucky him._

_Both the Yamanakas sat down on the floor, their backs braced against a wall, while Naruto pulled out a pencil and a notebook, then quickly snapped up a clipboard with various forms, and flipped them around so he could write on their blank backs. By the time he was finished the Yamanakas were both inside someone else's head and Ino was taking in a low, monotone voice._

_Root: numbers and names and codenames and addresses and entrances and passwords and infiltrators in ANBU and codes and bank accounts and… Naruto's hand, despite his healing abilities, started to cramp up from the endless writing at top speed. He hoped he could get a short rest soon; he was only ambidextrous with missile weapons. He saw Ibiki was taking notes also; their copies would probably be checked against each other._

_Agents: knowing and unknowing, blackmailed and patriotic, the hooks in the mouths and the briefest summaries of the controlling secrets, deals and betrayals and deaths. On and on, until Naruto wondered if Ibiki was looking around for where to stash the bodies of the others in the room when they were no longer needed for the interrogation. _

_Deals: with Koharu and Orochimaru and Akatsuki and Yakuza and Kiri and Iwa and Jashin and…_

_Plans: to break the Clans, the Guilds, the families, the businesses. To control everyone, for every second, and train all for the War. The perfect War against everyone on the outside. The War to kill or absorb every ninja, samurai, constable, or street thug into being a soldier of Konoha. The War to make Shimura Danzo the undisputed master; greater than the Sage of the Six Paths, greater than demons, greater than Gods._

_Ino's voice was now a harsh whisper, and tears flowed from her blankly staring eyes. Finally, a convulsion wracked her body and she fell over to her side. To Naruto it looked as if she had fainted; probably she had exhausted her chakra. It was several minutes more before Inoichi seemed to come back into his own skull, and even that experienced Jonin looked exhausted._

_Ibiki came over and took Naruto's notes, looked them over, and gave him directions to run them up to Nara Shikaku along with the man's current location. Evidently, Naruto decided, he was totally trusted, his little escapade in going to ground unknown. Unless at the end of this little voyage they killed the messenger. But that was supposed to be wrong, right?_

_As he walked to his destination he started to think of some of the things he had been taking down without thinking. One thing was bothering him, until a connecting memory popped up. Shimura, mind-raped by Inoichi, quoted in first person by Ino reading her father's mind, had said; "At least I've killed Hiruzen." Wasn't that the Old Man's name? _

_Naruto was still refusing to believe that when he knocked and was admitted into the presence of the Jonin Commander._

On the ninth day after the Breaking of Suna, the non-family bequests listed in the Will of Sarutobi Hiruzen were distributed. It made more real the sudden and immense changes that had taken place in Konohagakure: the death of Hokage, his most trusted Councilors deciding to join him out of respect, Shimura-sama's last act of turning over his special training school and its students to assist ANBU in dealing with its increased responsibilities… all of these showed a new era was dawning in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. With no nominations for the office of Hokage on file, a temporary Emergency Executive Committee had been formed to handle current business and administration.

But politics weren't on the mind of the small group gathered at the Memorial Stone. The list of names of those who had died was still being inscribed on the stone, the masons carefully chipping away at the chakra-resistant rock. Sarutobi Asuma handed a black velvet bag embroidered with gold thread to Sasuke Uchiha. The boy received it reluctantly; no material gift would be enough to buy his forgiveness for what had been done to his family, and accepting any sum as a pay-off would be a lie.

"The Executive Committee accepted the Third Hokage's recommendations for promotion; you have been promoted to Chunin, Uchiha-san. The scroll I have just given you is another thing entirely."

Then Asuma turned to Haruno Sakura. "The Executive Committee accepted the Third Hokage's recommendations for promotion; you have been promoted to Chunin, Haruno-san. As a side note, when I talked to him the last time he said that he regretted, now, the fact that he never really appreciated how you had progressed, until the Exams. You will report, alone, to the Executive Committee tomorrow morning for a special assignment.

"Mitarashi Anko, the Executive Committee had decided to confirm your promotion from Special Jonin to full Jonin. You have successfully guided Team Seven through their difficult genin period with great distinction. In acknowledgement you are relieved of your assignment as Jonin-sensei and have been assigned the task of developing an advanced tactical course that will become a standard part of the curriculum of the Academy, and which must be passed before Team assignments are given. This will be your job for the next year. This is to occur after the completion of the special assignment you were given yesterday.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you can accept the offer of an apprenticeship made by Jiraiya the Toad Sage, or be folded into a broken genin team for the chance for a future promotion at the next Chunin Examination, whenever that happens."

"Are those my only options, Asuma-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Well, they didn't actually limit you to those, but really, what else can you do? There are too many reasons for your team to be split up for a while. We'll have to conduct a war while… just let them know in a day or so.

"Anyway, dad wanted you to have this," and he handed over two scrolls. "One I have no idea about; it's got something stored in it, I guess. The other is authority to release any Namikaze techniques or properties to your control, as the sole heir. Yes, the Namikaze Minato techniques and properties. Which surprises the hell out of me. Congratulations on no longer being screwed out of what evidently should have always been yours. Anyway, bring that to the office of the Temporary Head of the Emergency Executive Committee and he'll get things rolling. It's Nara Shikaku, in case you've already forgotten, and bailing his son out in the Arena isn't the worst introduction to power I've heard about."

'So,' Sasuke thought to himself. 'Naruto was always a diamond in the rough, just waiting for the right hand to polish him up. He'll probably forgive being neglected and abused. It would probably be better for everyone if I could do that… but the central ruling body of Konoha declared war with the Uchiha; I'll have to take up the battle. It's a shame that good people like Asuma will have to suffer in the long run. Could I really hurt Sensei, though?'

He noticed his hands were fiddling with the scroll he had been given. As much to distract himself from actually deciding he would have to be willing to kill good people; he slipped the parchment out of its container. He unrolled it; the writing was a rusty red-brown. It was the color of dried blood on the slightly yellow sheepskin, he realized. The message was short, slightly ambiguous if the context was unknown, but very clear to Sasuke.

"Please accept my apology for my folly and grievous mistakes. I have no excuse, and can offer only my profound and humble request for your forgiveness. Sarutobi Hiruzen."

Shimura was dead, Utatane was dead, and on hearing of his companions ends Mitokado Homura had hanged himself (or someone had done the job for and to him). And Sarutobi Hiruzen, the guilty Sarutobi, had been killed in the same accident that had killed Shimura Danzo. Falling off the roof together. Right… less likely to happen than a chicken crawling back into its egg.

He thought of his people, the ones here with him now. Naruto finally acknowledged for who he was (even if not promoted). Sakura, no longer the tag-along fangirl, now the famous heroine, and savior of an essential part of the nobility of the Land of Fire.

Sensei, being given her opportunity to make more genin strong enough to be merciful when they could…

Merciful… how strong was Uchiha Sasuke? Perhaps Sensei had made him as strong as he wanted to be, needed to be. Sasuke bowed to the Memorial Stone, even though the name he was addressing wasn't on it yet. He was strong enough to accept a sincere apology. He was strong enough to forgive Sarutobi Hiruzen. He was strong enough to forgive Konohagakure.

Author's Note:

Having valuable property confiscated by the government, paid for at bargain rates, and practically given to private developers with connections to that government, with all but the original owners then making huge profits is far from unknown in the First through Third Worlds today.

You may notice that, in general, I follow the wisdom of the old Greek proverb: "Even Heracles can't fight two." Unless a fighter is immensely superior; when outnumbered a fighting retreat is the preferred tactic. Unless the fighter is cunning enough to make the enemy attack one at a time…

Shimura Danzo was attempting, using only speculative notes of an experimenter, to utilize an advanced family-linked (and not his family) technique for the first time. It is hardly to be wondered at if he was only partially successful.


	18. Chapter 17

I do not own, or receive any benefit, from the Naruto properties.

A Teacher's Glory: A Union of Rejects: Chapter 17

By Larry Huss

Twelve days after the invasion of Konoha and the breaking of Suna, Hyuga Hiashi requested an audience with the Emergency Executive Committee of Konohagakure. His justification was that he had an interesting proposition for them, and perhaps the answer to a problem that had been troubling them in the few hours they had free to fret about things other than repairing the structure of the village, and ensuring its food and water supplies. The Committee's inner group, the team that the Temporary Head, Nara Shikaku, consulted with before any major action, was resigned to having to make nice with the Hyuga clan leader for political reasons. Despite, having in their opinion, many more important things to do.

"Beyond the rubbish that Konoha is, somehow, a non-violent village of ninjas, there exists an odd fact," Hyuga Hiashi said, trying for an unnatural friendly tone. "We are in fact perhaps the only reliably non-genocidal one. At least if we are left to our own devices. Currently we have an embarrassment of victory on our hands: 1,800 Suna soldiers, including most, if not all, of their elites. You, as the ruling junta of Konoha, are in a predicament. You must either release them in order to fulfill the prescriptions of the First Hokage that the founding of the Hidden Villages was intended to end the mass slaughter and endless warfare of the time when each ninja clan was isolated and at war with all the others, and we were the playthings of the Daimyos and their armies and their gold… or our captives must be executed quickly to prevent their escape or their 'rescue' by an outside force.

"What that will do to our reputation… and to us… if we destroy so many that are at our mercy? It will gnaw at the foundations of our village, cripple our diplomacy, and probably damage the minds of those who are assigned to do the killing. Perhaps they can be tied up, and we could hire some of our civilians to chop off their heads? Or will that give the civilians an unfortunate idea that ninja can be slaughtered like so many sheep, if the right conditions can be arranged? No matter. Afterwards they won't talk about the 'Bloody Mist' anymore. Between the Nine-Tails attack, the Uchiha Massacre, the Invasion, and the executions, the only way that outsiders will speak about us will be as 'the Bloody Leaf.'"

Yamanaka Inoichi, veteran of more interrogations and mind ravagings than he cared to remember, tried to get things moving in some meaningful direction. They all had better things to do than have the Hyuga recite the obvious.

"And if we let them go, Suna remains desperate and dangerous, and no matter what oaths we make them swear, unreliable. A lot will hold grudges for their casualties. For that matter, a lot of us are holding grudges for their betrayal and the deaths they've caused. If your daughter, Hyuga-sama, hadn't been at the right spot at the right time, we'd have had a demon loose in the town, as well as all those damn snakes."

Yamanaka looked over to his teammate, and the current village leader, who nodded.

"So we can't just let them go, and we lack the space and the staff to imprison them indefinitely as we are still going to keep this war going until we destroy… no genocide if they surrender… Oto. Orochimaru… we'll have to find some way to send him to Hell. Do you have a solution to this little quandary? We owe you some of our time, for your daughter's sake if nothing else, but all of us are trying to do at least two jobs at once right now."

The Hyuga smiled; it was sometimes a relief to talk to rude men with a real job to do, and not have to put up with those who tradition and filial piety demanded he obey, no matter how much he saw them mistaken.

"Surely we can use our problems to solve each other? The war we must wage with Oto will need many troops. One way or another, casualties will be heavy. One way of controlling our losses… and not the worst… would be to use the Suna ninja, all of them here and those still out in their sand-box, to lead the way in locating the Village Hidden in the Sound, and taking the losses of the first assaults."

Akimichi Choza chuckled. "Just the people I'd want at my back, when I'm in a death-duel with one of those Oto cursed-seal freaks!

"I don't care how many hostages we keep, there'll be more of the Suna ninja going missing nin, or backstabbing us, than will be willing to go up to the battlefront, much less leading the assault."

It was the Hyuga's turn to smile. "And, no doubt, we would be hard pressed to keep enough hostage-guards off of other duties to keep all those women and children in one place to be slaughtered if their relations decide go bad on us.

"There are problems with the old 'you've drunk a timed release poison, and only I have the antidote' thing. They're that any poison we use would weaken our new troops, or that they can either find their own antidote, or miss their safety dosage. And so that wouldn't do, at all!"

A cat-masked ANBU moved out of the shadows, and asked, "Do you have a better alternative?"

The clan-head nodded. Then he drew a scroll from the loose sleeve of his robe, and tossed it onto the table the Temporary Head was seated out. The parchment roll was yellowed, and stiff with time. On the outside there was a beautifully drawn figure of an elegant and serene room… with a bird cage in one corner.

"We will need the Sannin Jiraiya, and probably some other talented seal-masters and scholars to do the needed modifications.

"While the Uchiha had a deserved reputation for being able to make those outside of their clan do their bidding, the Hyuga have been the experts in making sure that those inside of it were properly obedient. I have a few, humble, suggestions on what the modifications should actually do. And, for revealing one of the most sacred secrets of my clan, I only want a few little favors from you. Some personal matters that should probably be resolved… should have been resolved, long ago…"

_Thirty-four days after the fall of Suna, and sixteen after she was given a dream of hope, Temari, who might soon be of Konoha and made free, mentally rehearsed the sequence in pantomime. The Uchiha would start his flame technique, firing it down the ventilation flue concealed in the stand of bamboo near the marsh. When it was at its hottest she would advance, and use her Battle Fan to feed and force (and intensify) the heat down into the corridors and tunnels of the underground Oto base. Loath him though she did, she had to admit that he wasn't just __all__ dirty tricks and cheap shots. His Fire Lance could have been used to heat a blast furnace._

_ A half-kilometer away the blond Sorcerer had already started to slowly and subtly increase the exhaust of stale air from the hidden fortress at the other ventilation shaft (hidden in a rocky islet actually in the marsh) that the Bug Boy's insects had discovered. Between her and the other blond, both of them Wind Release types, at least a part of the underground labyrinth would become an oven, baking to death at least some of the enemy. However many she helped kill here, that would be the be the number that wouldn't be alive to defend against the assault going through the camouflaged entrances that the Hyuga Bitch and her cousin had discovered. As the first ranks of the assault forces would be all composed of ex-Suna ninja, this was the best she could do for her former neighbors and might-have-someday-been-friends. She owed them that. After all, it had been Father who had managed to both get them all involved in that stupid plan, and then get himself killed by being inferior in treachery when it mattered most._

_ Nervously, her hand went up to her forehead, touching the tattoo that was still new and sore. Would they do it, she wondered. Would, when the war was satisfactorily concluded, they erase it from the heads of all the soldiers of fallen Suna, and let them walk without fear of paralyzing pain or sudden death from a mere hand sign? Or whatever it was they used for a trigger; she had felt the pain demonstrated on herself when she had been put on the team. The Uchiha had been merciful, in his own way. He'd only fed her enough discomfort to let her know he could do far worse._

_ She looked over to her left, where the Bug Boy, Shino, was trying to pretend he wasn't worriedly trying to look in all directions at once. He was their security perimeter right now, with all his insects on the ground or on the wing, trying to locate any sally ports or hidden exits that might erupt with unpleasant surprises. With all the area he was trying to cover, he was denuded of enough of his hive to make him conducting an actual fight impossible. _

_ This was her third combat in the Oto War, and the first time they were trying to use this new "bellows and smokestack" tactic. Maybe it would save them from a brutal head-to-head fight through all the booby-trapped tunnels. That was how Kankuro had gotten hurt during their first battle, when a hidden cross tunnel had suddenly erupted with enemy ninjas while his puppets were up ahead cleaning out a defended barricade set up behind a dip in the tunnel, filled with poison gas. The Yamanakas were looking after him during his convalescence, and from his last letter it seemed he had imprinted on Mrs. Yamanaka like a lost duckling finally finding a mother. Gods and demons, she wished Ino was here to talk with. Teamed up with the Bug Boy, the Uchiha, and their resident genius who had worked out this plan, the Pinkette, was bad enough. That the other two on the team were the Sorcerer (who talked so much and said so little), and the Hyuga Bitch was what made it almost unbearable. How could that shy and dull as dishwater creature have killed her demon-filled brother? How could the Bitch be such a stuttering fool and still four days ago cut her way through corridors full of older and more experienced killers?_

_ Haruno (the Pinkette), out on the island, waved a flag, the signal that the air was moving right, and a good draw was in operation. Uchiha started shooting a blue stream of fire out of his mouth and down the metal pipe (at least 15 meters long the Aburame had said his bugs thought), and she ran forward and put all her chakra into raising a tight tornado of swirling air, cupping her Battle Fan to direct it down the pipe as well. The Uchiha kept up his flame for almost a minute, until he finally stumbled off to the side to actual draw a breath of air for himself. Temari kept fanning air down into the caverns below, then gave a startled jump backwards as the pipe collapsed in on itself as it lost all its strength from the fierce heat. She looked out at the exhaust area on the island, and saw the three out there (Sorcerer, Haruno, and Hyuga) backing away from the flue there, which was venting a pillar of yellow flame. In fact, as she looked to the right, there were two other burning columns shooting out of the ground. She wondered how large the complex below them was if the fires were coming up that fiercely hundreds of meters away… _

_ The Aburame was signaling to his insects to come home, and the Uchiha had finally caught his breath, so they headed off to their secondary assignment to backstop the force at the nearest entrance that Konoha had discovered. _

_ They got there just as the door burst open, and one of those survivors of the Cursed Seal came out at a full run. Through the flames that covered his body and had burned off all his clothing, they could see that he was showing the marks that said that he was using the tainted chakra that enhanced him. No one stopped him as he ran almost a hundred meters, too confused by the pain to even head for the marsh's water, and finally dropped to the ground screaming. No one came to give him any relief though; you could never tell with those Cursed Seal creatures._

_ They left the area for the next suspected location a few hours later. It would be days, perhaps, before the interior of the underground warren cooled off enough for anyone to enter safely. Only a small unit would be left to check things out then, and collapse any tunnels that remained functional. The rest of the force was moving as quickly as they could. It would be wise to get as many of the Oto buried fortresses burned out before the Sanin who ruled the Village Hidden in the Sound found out about the new tactic, and discovered a counter to it._

Even ninja at war had to sleep sometime, Naruto thought, as he looked around him at the others members of what some of their other regimental mates were starting to call "Team Inferno." They'd been moving at the run for the last two days, and after cleaning out the latest nest of Orochimaru's troops they had only managed to get far enough away that they couldn't smell the odor of burnt meat before they just had to take a rest. In a few hours they would be heading north again, to where Team Guy had located another tunnel complex to take care of. Even Guy wasn't crazy enough to enjoy doing a few kilometers of frontal assaults through tunnels under the earth by himself. The team would be spending their time keeping the place under observation, and preparing a pre-battle briefing for the rest of the Assault Unit Asuma.

It was a shame that Sensei wasn't there with them, but she had somehow gotten involved in weird, high-level, diplomatic stuff back at Konoha. Still, he couldn't complain. They were a self-contained bunker-busting unit that could handle most anything. Shino and Hinata-chan gave tactical reconnaissance, while Sasuke, Temari-chan, and he had close-in power and sheer blasting talent. And Sakura-chan had all the brains they could ever hope to need. Their second operation had gone almost as smoothly as the first. Still, a few of the enemy had been confirmed to have escaped, so it was only a matter of time until they started to put in protective baffles or something to stop fire from pouring down on them. So Asuma-sama was trying to hit as many of the Oto outposts as possible before the word got out.

He felt Hinata-chan snuggle in a bit against his side. It had taken a stern talking to, but Sakura-chan had finally gotten it through his head that the Hyuga princess was actually interested in him. After all those years of rejection (for various reasons by various people) it was a weird feeling. He liked it.

Still… the war was going to last a while longer. Oto was too dispersed to be finished off in one quick battle, but that also meant that it was almost impossible for them to organize and concentrate their strength. The Cursed Seal guys were really tough, but the stronger they got, the stupider they fought.

There was probably a lesson in there for him, wasn't there?

And after the war… he had some commitments. He'd told Hinata-chan, and she'd sort of beamed at him. That was kind of odd; he'd expect anyone not on Team Seven to at least be a little suspicious when he said something like that, but she just believed him right off the bat. 'I have to go to a far off mountain and learn really great ninja stuff from a monkey.' She'd just got a faraway look in her eyes, and said in her little voice "Contract?" And believed him as soon as he'd nodded. Weird girl.

In an hour or so he'd have to wake up Temari of… of no place in particular right now… for her turn of guard duty. Naruto hoped that the promises that had been made to all the ninja once from Suna would be kept; it must suck to know that they had a death sentence tattooed on the middle of their foreheads for everybody to see. Hinata-chan could barely look at the girl; it was like she felt guilty that the modified slave-seal had been stitched onto her. Temari-san glaring at her and doing more growling than speaking when she had to answer a question didn't help much, either. The blond could even handle Sasuke better than that. She had nasty nicknames for each of them, except for Naruto himself. If she didn't use his real name, she just called him Sorcerer. Having someone, well a lot of folks, call him that wasn't as satisfying as he had thought it would be. 'Be careful what you wish for…'

Despite how grumpy Temari was all the time, no one ever brought up how she cried herself to sleep every night. She wasn't loud or anything, and after what she had been through it really seemed it would be mean to make fun of her. Naruto guessed that Sasuke, especially, must have a feeling for her, what with the similarities between what had happened to them and all. Naruto himself… well he'd always wanted parents and everything, but at least he'd never had a family taken away from him that he could remember. That must be terrible! So, after Shino and Sakura-chan, he was one of the lucky ones… how pathetic was that?

He heard a commotion off at the northern perimeter of the Unit's sentry line. With his keen ears he could hear… it sounded like Lee, and the words were indistinct… but the noise patterns sounded like he was talking every time he could catch his breath. Now someone was running from the guard outpost and yelling for Asuma-sama, and for a medic. Why wasn't Guy the person giving the report? Naruto gave Hinata-chan a shake, and as she came-to he got up and carefully (you don't want to suddenly wake up ninja when they might be in the middle of a nightmare) the others of his Team. Something was up, and short of the half-dozen Jonin in the Unit his Team were the best Reconnaissance troopers Asuma-sensei had with them. With Shino's insects and Hinata-chan's Byakugan they were even as good in the dark as during the day. It sounded like something had gone wrong, up at the next target, and they'd be doing something a little more… directly confrontational… pretty damn soon.

_By the time the messenger from Asuma located them in the dark, Uchiha Sasuke had already managed to get a pot of coffee half-heated. All around them the Unit was waking up, but Naruto's quick actions meant that at least their Team had a chance to get something hot in their bellies before they had to get back on the road. He was trying something new right now: heating the water directly, without bothering with creating a flame. It took a bit more chakra, but it __was__ faster. He looked over at Sakura; she nodded and began to get the canteen cups from the rest of the Team. _

_ The messenger blurted out that the Team Leader should report immediately to the Commander for special orders. Shino looked at him with a raised eyelid; they'd been driving Asuma-sama crazy by sending different people (even their Suna conscript) up to get their orders briefing each time they were summoned. "Two?" Sasuke inquired._

_ "Save some coffee for Shino and me, will ya'?" Naruto said as he grabbed the Aburame and headed off to where they'd been told to go. Sasuke was still a bit too groggy to work out how many more briefings it would take until they showed up as a committee-of-the-whole in order to do something unique in confusing/annoying the more rigid minds of the other Team leaders. Ah, the stuff was ready… he began to pour it out, and even the confirmed tea-drinkers Sakura and Hinata were glad to get something hot and caffeinated into them at this time of the night._

_ He'd knocked back his oversized cup of bean-based consciousness by the time Shino and Naruto returned. He motioned to the partially filled pot, now sitting and keeping warm on a small, smokeless fire he'd set up. Naruto looked over, gave a nod of thanks, and made a beeline to get himself something to drink while he could. He brought back Shino's filled cup also, as the boy unbuttoned his tall coat-collar. That way he could relax while he gave them their mission as he sipped something to get himself awake. Sasuke expected it was some sort of badge of honor and trust that Shino was even that informal with his teammates._

_ "Team Guy ran into an unexpected intruder detection system earlier this evening. The enemy base responded with an outflanking move that caught them off-guard, and attacked from an unexpected direction with great numbers. Team Guy was falling back when unexpectedly powerful attacks, perhaps some sort of Earth Jutsu, hit them suddenly. Hyuga Neji and Tamura Tenten were injured in the enemies' first strike. Rock Lee had to evacuate them while Jonin Guy preformed rear-guard duty._

_ "Because he had to carry both of his team-mates, Lee was unable to adequately cover his trail, and he is sure that he is being pursued by a force from the base. We are to act as a recon team to backtrack Lee, and find out if this is true. We will, of course, provide any needed assistance to friendly ninjas we encounter. Our mission will continue as close to the enemy base as seems practicable." He took a long and appreciative sip._

_ Naruto threw back the remains of his coffee, and winced as it burned his tongue._

_ "So let's get going; even __Guy__ is goin' to be getting tired by the time we get up to where he's been giving those Oto jerks a run-around."_

_ In less than a minute they had packed up their stuff, and it took even less time for them to organize their formation. It was still night, so Hinata with her Byakugan would be in the center and up front. Next to her would be Naruto to give her close-in protection and the aid of his sensitive nose and ears. Triplets of Naruto Shadow Clones would be to the flanks, to expand their frontage and give alert when they either discovered something, or were self-dispersed. Aburame and Uchiha deployed slightly back and to the right, and Haruno and Temari staggered a bit back and to the left. Behind them all were twenty Clones to either set up a defensive (and trapped) line if they had to fall back, or provide a deep flanking force if they met a properly small-enough sized group of the enemy to take down in one gulp. Each of the Clones was given a standard set of kunai and varied paper explosive and smoke tags. Mixing the real and the merely chakra-formed in a night battle was sure to bring a little welcome chaos to the situation. _

_At the last minute Naruto made five Clones to stay with Asuma-sama. Orochimaru's agents could have penetrated the Konoha communications systems; no one knew for sure, but it was hard to figure how he'd be able to intercept the chakra (and information) that would return to Naruto when one of the Clones with the headquarters group dispersed itself._

_ They hadn't gone ten minutes at speed through the brushy scrub before Sasuke and Shino had to pull up to a stop as Naruto and Hinata rushed back to them, with five newly made Clones shooting off; one to the left, one to the right, and three straight back. So... Sasuke thought, flanks are warned, and messengers gone off to alert the main body._

_ "They're coming up at a trot, two-three minutes away at most. We'll give them a bump, and start leading them off to the left," Naruto said, pointing in one direction to avoid any 'my left/your left' hilarity. "Sakura's getting briefed, and a message is going back to base. Don't worry about making things spectacular… we'll want to attract their attention as well as let Asuma-sama… shit here they are!"_

_ With that he threw an explosive tag wrapped around a lead weight at a group of ninja about forty meters away that had just appeared at the run out of the star-lit gloom. Before it had landed and gone off, the four teammates had sorted themselves out in a line and were starting to angle themselves to make their retreat in the desired direction look like a natural falling-back toward their main body. The right flank guard of Naruto Clones cut across the front of the enemy force to join their originator, throwing smoke bombs and generally creating confusion in the enemy ranks. Sasuke noted that the Clones had taken on different faces._

_ As the enemy cautiously poked their heads out of the smokescreen, Sasuke spat a Great Fireball at them, more to slow down their advance than in hopes that he'd do much damage. Still, it was gratifying to see two of them catch fire. Oto ninja! So damn specialized they didn't know how to defend themselves from something so basic!_

_ As Naruto drew the enemy further toward the left, Sasuke wondered why they weren't waiting for the rest of the Team to come. As the smoke screen finally dissipated they could see that the Oto force was well over forty, and increasing quickly. Most were pretty short and scraggily, though. 'Kunai bait,' Sasuke thought to himself. About one in four seemed to be larger; probably older and more experienced. Some maybe even carrying Orochimaru's special augmentations. Those were the ones who'd send in the small fry to keep the Konoha ninja occupied, while the more skilled organized themselves and set up kill zones for their long range attacks, probably sound-based._

_ "Try to keep them clustered up in front of us, but out of contact," Naruto said._

_ Sasuke noted that Shino was being cautious about sending out his insect allies, and Hinata was carefully trying to direct the just-arrived left flank Clone force to use their missiles to keep the Oto troops from spreading out in that direction. The enemy were trying to set up a covering barrage of senbon and kunai to protect their augmented combat specialists closing in, but evidently when Orochimaru had set up Oto as a sort of anti-Konoha he had done too good a job of it. Instead of sets of tightly coordinated teams that naturally followed the leader of their next larger unit, Oto seemed to tend toward a mob of individuals who followed the strongest perceived fighter. And the ad-hoc nature of the pursuit of Team Guy had evidently not let them sort out who that was. Some of the would-be Alphas (to use an Inuzuka- term) were for falling back, some were trying to direct outflanking moves, and some were going for a mass rush straight forward._

_ Before they got themselves sorted out, Sasuke heard the noise of a great storm start, and Temari's contribution to the fight showed up as a wall of wind came in from the darkness on the right. The sudden wall of wind hitting them before they could get braced knocked down dozens of the smaller ones; there were even a few who were lifted off of their feet and who sailed through the air until they collided with something solid and vertical. There were still about ten of the bigger ones, either getting up quicker or never having been knocked down. From behind them there was the sound of another gaggle or mob (calling them a company, or even a war-band seemed too generous) coming up fast. Higher pitched was the sound of Sakura's methodical Quick Needles coming out about once every three seconds as she tried long-range sniping from the shadows. _

_ A group of perhaps fifteen rushed toward the main group of Konoha ninja, one of the Oto force visibly swelling as he charged forward. Sasuke pulled out his kodachi, and began to charge and give it an extended Fire Blade when the now two-meter and more tall ninja leading the charge suddenly had his back explode, throwing his body forward the last twenty meters to the Konoha ninja (Shino) he had been charging. Before he ran forward and chopped the enemy's head off, Sasuke noticed that a pattern of purple, vein-like patterns were quickly fading from the corpse. Then it was all close range stuff with the ten or so who had managed to close with the Konoha battle line._

_For whatever reason, the Shadow Clones on one flank had a hard time with the three Oto ninja who opened their mouths and evidently emitted some sort of Silent Scream that destabilized them. So much for pretending that Team Seven(+) was a scouting and delaying team staffed by all living members. Still, the really-living members of it had quickly managed to cut down six of the initial charge that had reached them. _

_Unfortunately, the next mob had finally shown up and decided to get involved in the only battle they could see. At least seventy more enemy were charging in, and Sakura and Temari evidently didn't have a good angle to shoot from without targeting their own side with any misses._

_The whole Konoha line fell back, until Sasuke noticed a series of blazes cut into the bark of a line of spindly trees. He went back another ten meters and turned. Reluctantly Naruto nodded agreement and did the same, yelling out to the others, "Defend on this line for now!" Sensei had taught them that a line defended by traps and obstacles alone really didn't delay the enemy very long or well._

_Sasuke saw several Clones that had been setting up the traps dissipate, letting Naruto know exactly where the limits of the booby-trapped zone were, and more importantly where the safe path through it was. The blond began desperately to yell to Hinata to close in on him… she wasn't quite quick enough, as one of the swiftest of their pursuers managed to hit an explosive tag trap and she was clipped in the side by a piece of his leg, going down for a second._

_She was up in an instant, hardly limping, and tucked herself two steps to the left and a half pace forward of Naruto, while Shino did the same to the right of Sasuke. Sasuke extended his Fire Blade until it was just short of two meters long; he knew that Naruto had done the same (with Wind Chakra) for his sword. Most enemy would shy away from two meters of fire swinging and stabbing at them in the dark, and run into Naruto's invisible two meters of cutting winds. If anyone managed to close inside of the best cutting range of the long weapons… well, that was what Shino and Hinata were there for. Shadow Clones were covering the flanks for about twenty meters on either side, and some were preparing to do Substitution Techniques to rescue any of the living fighters who were injured._

_The next few minutes were busy, slashing work, with a number of corpses actually set alight and providing flickering illumination. They didn't make one of those poetic 'walls of the fallen enemy' in front of their position. In the dark (except for the light of Sasuke's blade and the few ignited dead) it was probably inevitable that a thrown kunai managed to actually get through the confusion of moving bodies and stick itself into Sasuke's thigh. _

_Before he could protest that he was still alright, he was suddenly twenty meters back as two Narutos filled in his place at the front. Cursing, he let his fires die, sheathed his blade, then pulled it out quickly as the heated metal began to set the leather sheath on fire, and began to gently extract the knife from his leg and bandage it._

_He was barely done when the others suddenly pulled back, and two Clones grabbed him by his arms and carried him back a hundred meters more before they let him stand alone. Behind them there was the sound of battle as Clones were delaying the enemy; by the sound of it now over a hundred. Sasuke started cursing out Naruto: "Your idiots made me lose an absolutely great kodachi back there! I don't know if I'll ever be able to buy one as well balanced as that one! You Owe Me!"_

_Hinata cringed a little at his volume while she helped Shino pull off his overcoat and began to put a compression bandage on a longish but shallow slice in his side. His insects were moving all around on his exposed body, and were even moving over her arms as she worked, but she was well used to them, and they to her, so there were no unpleasant incidents._

"_Don't worry, guy," Naruto said. "They ain't getting closer 'cause they're too busy right now. We'll just walk back in a couple of minutes and pick it right back up. We'll wait now, until things quiet down. Ya' notice they ain't closing in on us anymore? They was spending so much time looking at the bright lights I bet they never even noticed Asuma-sensei getting into position to give them a poke in the behind."_

'_Yes,' Sasuke thought, 'that was what we were supposed to be doing in the first place. It's so easy to get caught up in the actual fighting that you can forget __why__ you were actually doing it. The idea isn't to kill people; it's to win. Killing people is just one way to do it.'_

"_How are you doing, Shino?" he asked._

"_Hinata-san's ointments do a good job of dulling the pain, and otherwise it is more frightening appearing than dangerous," Shino said._

"_It's not a paper-cut," Hinata managed to somehow scold him in a soft and gentle voice._

_In the end Naruto was proven right… Sasuke did manage to locate his sword, though he wasn't afterwards sure that the temper of the metal wasn't a little damaged by all the flame it had been coated with for so long. _

_After an hour's rest they began moving up again, though their role as a scouting force had been taken by another group. Too many niggling, small injuries had worked to slow them up enough that Commander Asuma had decided to fold them back into the Main Body, and include them in his bodyguard detachment. Their other skills were being considered too valuable for them to be risked in a task that they were, at best, currently only marginally capable of. That was why when the new scout team reported back of something odder than usual, they went up front with Sarutobi Asuma when he personally went forward to investigate._

Among the expanse of new-made muddy craters, with a few corpses scattered about, stood a forest of four- and five-story tall, sharp-tipped cones of white bone. Perched on top of an arrangement of three of them was what looked like a hut-sized turtle shell, glistening in the sun, smashed at by a flail (the links larger than those used to moor great ocean-going ships) of what seemed to be more bone. Occasionally the shell squirted out to one side or the other when hit, and a suddenly growing spike put it back in position for the next assault. With all that large-scale action, it was a little time until Hinata spotted a mud-streaked figure sitting all hunched up on the edge of a small platform of… white bone. He looked both terribly tired and very depressed.

When they got closer, moving so that there would be at least three open escape routes if things went bad, they saw that the man was pale-skinned, white-haired, young, very thin, and was covered by the now all-too-familiar blotching pattern of the Cursed Seal. It was fading, though, and there was a trickle of blood coming out of the corner of his mouth. When he finally noticed them, he staggered to his feet and tried to brace himself, thrusting his right arm straight out in front of him. A score of pebble-sized objects spurted out of his hand, and fell to earth fifteen meters in front of him, well short of the approaching party. The purple pattern covering his exposed skin began to fade more quickly, the white pillars all around them to shrink, and the man collapsed onto the now crumbling platform he had been standing upon.

Asuma motioned Naruto forward, knowing that if the stranger was just playing at weakness the genin was the person most likely to survive any surprise attack. Naruto looked at his unit commander with a skeptical 'are you crazy?' look, and created a Shadow Clone with a different face, and sent the possible non-human sacrifice forward.

"Hi there?" the brown-haired, tall young man with a Konoha head-band said timidly.

"Die, Konoha dog," the white-haired man said, and unhooked a small knife from a belt loop (right next to a dangling spoon and a long case that held either a very few senbon needles, or a pair of chopsticks), and staggered to his feet. He took a stance that showed he had once seen someone prepare to fight with a kunai, but had never before tried to do that himself.

That made sense, the Clone thought, if he could (when fresh) shoot bone bullets out of his hands. He probably could also do some sort of instant armor (a memory of Gaara made the Clone shudder). With that sort of combination, training for a conventional fight was probably the last thing he'd have thought he had to do. He'd just probably had never been so worn-down before. The Clone took a step forward and disarmed the Oto ninja, and then suddenly dispersed (with the knife dropping to the ground). There was a sharp spike of bone growing out of the Oto soldier's wrist that those looking on could have sworn hadn't been there a few seconds ago. The Oto ninja dropped to his knees in exhaustion, blood dripping down off of his chin to make a small, red puddle on the now bare and muddy ground.

By now, the igloo-sized turtle shell had finally come to ground, rocking slightly. After a moment a subtle change occurred where the upper and lower protective plates met, a slight blurring, and the nose of a giant reptile timidly poked out from between the two surfaces. It pulled back in immediately, and to those keen-eared enough a muffled conversation seemed to be taking place inside, followed by the shell losing its just-waxed appearance and becoming somewhat dingy and scuffed, with even a few noticeable scratches on it. A moment later a beaten and weary Guy dragged himself out, staggered to one foot, and hopped one-legged over to Asuma's command group. There was a crudely tied dressing on his injured calf.

"Have my youthful students reported in? Are they well?" the Jonin blurted out. Naruto thought it was a very Guy way for the de-briefing to start; he always worried about his precious people first.

"Lee got them to us fine… they should be up and running in two or three days. I made sure to get as many field medics as I could when I signed up for this joy-ride," Asuma said.

Guy gave a sigh of relief and began his official report.

"The enemy camp is about five kilometers North-Northwest. It might be one of their basic training and supply bases; there are a fair number of above-ground facilities, as well as a fairly exposed main entrance to their underground areas. Neji was able to confirm the entrance is larger than usual, and he could trace it back down under a hill for perhaps fifty meters; that's as close as we got before the alarm got out and we had to break off. I'd estimate the above ground buildings could house about four hundred trainees and staff. The number of enemy in the underground areas is unknown, but we must reasonably expect that at least as many, perhaps three times as much, could be down there. Or preparing either defenses or an armed reconnaissance-in-force.

"The one over there boasted about being one of Orochimaru's favorites, and perhaps his 'host,' whatever he means by that. Not in charge of the base, but evidently a powerful member of Orochimaru's elite troops. We know he doesn't really have an inner circle… he's too egotistical for that.

"In any case, Kimimaro there boasted of some bone using blood-line talent. Very odd and I'd of thought anatomically impossible, but I did see it with my own eyes. Spikes shot up out of the ground and only Lee of my genin was fast enough to evade them, so I had him evacuate the others while I delayed the enemy forces." He looked around, and saw no Oto troops, living, except for Kimimaro.

"It seems when I had to summoned Ningame to help me deal with… well… survive the several hundred enemies and this Kimimaro person, I must have lost track of things a bit. I had to retreat into Ningame's shell to compensate for my loss of mobility when my leg was injured. Luckily I know a jutsu that puts a smooth wax-like coating on things, and I made sure that none of the bone clamps or weapons managed to get an effective blow in onto my friend and refuge. Of course, both of us got rattled around a little bit."

From the bruises on his face, the bleeding abrasions on his hands and generally wincing way he was moving, beyond any possible effect of the wound on his leg, it appeared that Guy was being a little under-exaggerating things.

"Ningame wanted to use his un-summoning ability to get us to safety on Tortoise Island, but with no way to get back to Konoha within the next four months I was persuasive on getting him to stay here, and continue to distract… at least their greatest asset.

"Ningame, old friend, thank you. And if you wish to return home, do so knowing you have accomplished all the bright and burning Power of Youth could have desired!" Guy yelled out to his Summons.

"Power of Youth my arthritic tail! I'm five hundred years old, come next summer, and three days more, and I think I'm getting a little tired of your childish pranks and games!

"But don't be such a stranger. Maybe we can get together for a picnic sometime?" And with that the giant tortoise vanished in a burst of smoke.

The sole remaining living Oto ninja present had, from his seat on the muddy earth, been following this exchange, and dropped his head to his chest with a groan. Naruto made another Shadow Clone, and sent it forward to talk with the man.

"Yeah, we feel that way about Guy a lot also, from time to time. I think it mainly starts with the jumpsuit; and then the whole Power of Youth thing just confirms the opinion. But, he really isn't that bad when ya' get to know him… really. Uh… would you like to surrender now? I mean… you are sorta' beat up, and you got no friends around, or anything. Really… think about it. I'm serious 'bout this!"

Kimimaro tried to rise to his feet to strangle the impertinent Konoha genin, but finally shrugged and let out another groan. He had never imagined being taken prisoner by child that barely came up to his chest and who had as much an air of authority and dignity as a scruffy pariah hound. Dying in fierce battle, being extinguished as a person when his body was allowed to host Orochimaru-sama, even falling victim to some inferior but scheming rival from among the ambitious survivors of Orochimaru-sama's experiments had all been possibilities. But not this ignominy; not this!

It was only later, as he lay for his brief spell in a hospital bed back in the medical wing of the Torture and Interrogation offices back in Konoha, did he learn he had been taken into custody by the Sorcerer, and his pride was healed.

_With Guy banged up so badly that even his sturdy body would need significant time to heal, Neji was given temporary leadership of the advanced scouting force. To it were added a few of the more promising genin, including a newly arrived and operational Inuzuka Kiba as backup. After a rest, they set out to the next hot lead. Before they left on the way to pinpoint the next Oto location, Neji (and Hinata) had determined the perimeter and exits from what turned out to be one of Orochimaru's original and most developed strongpoint's and training bases. _

_ As they established their positions around the underground bunker's sally ports, the Konoha forces preemptively started flattening the above-ground housing and supply and service buildings. The first few yielded some pretty secondary explosions and a few scattered Oto ninja body parts. Then, when it was noticed by at least some of the defenders that the opportunity for a glorious death slaying the enemies of Orochimaru-sama yielded only the plain 'death' part, a number of houses emptied themselves before they were destroyed, and their less-dedicated-than-expected defenders were taken prisoner. It was hardly to be wondered at. As might be expected from the ninja philosophy of Otogakure, those who had been assigned to destroy themselves were the least trained and "valuable" of the troops. Often these were also mere frightened children, who were often kept in line with beatings, threats, and sometimes drugs. With their abusers fled, dead, or hiding out in what they thought was an impregnable hidden fortress, there was little incentive for the more recent recruits (often the victim of kidnappings) to willingly pass on to their next incarnation in defense of those that had abandoned them._

_ Looking at those wretched prisoners, listening to their stories, Temari gave a wheezing, bitter laugh. Konoha actually __was__ the "nice" Ninja Village. 'Of course,' she thought, 'we're still going to roast those bastards alive in their kindly-built oven that they hide inside. I must be morally deficient, somehow. After all this I still don't have any urge to join a reclusive nunnery, fall on my own knife, or even take up vegetarianism.'_

Two more fortresses were burned out before the first effective counter-measures were run up against. And at that, it was really just a more effective set of long distance escape tunnels for the leaders and more valuable specialists to flee through. From then on half the stations, posts, and bases that Assault Unit Asuma ran into were empty, except for a few bewildered stragglers or deserters, and the occasional local civilian refugee trying to loot something useful to help them get by until the next harvest (one that wouldn't be confiscated by the Kage of Otogakure) came in. The others, those that resisted, were fanatic without being especially effective. Even the few Cursed Seal survivors they came up against tended to get sliced to pieces by a storm of kunai before they could do much damage. The number of troops lost in the attack on Konoha, as well as the number of bases already gobbled up, one-by-one, meant that except for a few places only supply and training cadres were left to be dealt with.

It seemed that the hard crust of defended positions that had surrounded what was once the Land of Rice Fields was all there was to deal with. There was no core, no center, no defended citadel to rally on. It had all been a scattering of bases that had been arranged for the benefit of ease of feeding a large number of hastily recruited and sketchily trained expendables for a quick war of conquest. Orochimaru had never intended it to be a lasting ninja country; it was just his way of getting the troops he needed to destroy his old village. The buried fortifications had been for research and development of his various Cursed and surgically modified special soldiers. They had been buried to avoid attracting notice, as the work needed to do such things to humans needed extra years of preparation, and a place to work on many test subjects for each successful abomination produced.

Sakura and Hinata were the leaders of "Team Inferno" when the call came for a conference of all the leaders. This time there was a difference; the outer security perimeter was far enough away that they couldn't overhear what was being said… something special was coming up.

As they approached the knot of twenty or so ninja surrounding Commander Asuma, Hinata nervously called up her Byakugan, and after scanning all those in front of her, began to peer downward to check to see if there were enemies trying to Earth Walk close enough to either attack or eavesdrop. Sakura was so proud of her; she'd been about to suggest to the Hyuga heiress that she do something like that anyway.

Sakura saw… for the first time since he had been given the command… Sarutobi Asuma light up a cigarette and take a deep breath of smoke. Whatever he had to say must be pretty earth shattering she thought.

"I've received word from home. The Emergency Committee is ordering us back to Konoha. We've just about cleared out all of Orochimaru's bases, and right now we're more valuable taking commissions and retraining our troops.

"I want each team leader to give me a list of their subordinates that they think are suitable for battlefield promotion to Chunin. No favoritism please… ex-Suna ninja are certainly eligible. Merit is the only criteria. For the troops originally from Suna I'll also want an evaluation on whether or not you think they'll run if their… restraints are removed. They've already started to take them off some of the more reliable ones back home.

"Get your recommendations back to me right after lunch. We'll be starting our movement after that, so get things organized for a quick move out. Note the degree of mobility-restricted troops you have, we'll accommodate our speed to their pace. I've already sent word to our scouting teams; they're falling back onto the main body right now.

"Good work troops. We haven't gotten our hands on the Snake, but we've broken the back of his little village. They shouldn't be giving us trouble for quite some time. Dismissed!"

As they walked back to the campfire, Sakura talked over the brief briefing they'd received with her co-leader for the day. Pulling up stakes to go on the road would only take them five minutes… the real question was Temari.

"I grant that she's good enough for a promotion," Sakura said, "but do you think that she's either loyal, or intimidated enough, to work for us without the Seal keeping her honest? Do you think she's stable enough for the freedom?"

Hinata grimaced for a second; mention of the Caged Bird Seal tended to do that to her. No matter how disrespectfully Temari had acted to her, she'd never activated it. Even when the Seal had been tested (to ensure it had been put on right) and shown to be effective to its victim it had been someone else who had done the torture. Currently, in the team, both she and Sasuke knew the techniques for activating it, and neither had felt any urge to "play" with the girl. Not all mixed combat squads could say that.

"I received a letter from Tamaki-san recently, " the Hyuga said, "and she said that Kankuro was completely healed, and very happy living with the Yamanakas. He's been working on building his own puppets, and has given demonstrations of what they can do at the Academy. All the children send him cards thanking him, and asking him to come again. He likes that.

"They took his Seal off, too. I don't know if she knows that yet. He isn't the best correspondent. Maybe he's just waiting for his sister before running off, but they think back home that he's starting to feel loyal. And after all, where else does he have to go that he won't have to just start over again?

"You've seen how she acted when he was hurt, and how she lives for his letters. Besides anything else, she won't run away as long as he's loyal. I think she'll always be a little misplaced, but she'll be reliable if she's quartered in the Village. Probably it'll be better not to have her living in one of the satellite villages the Committee is planning, though. If she's living in Konoha she'll be near her brother, and she seems to want to be able to tend her younger brother's grave, also. Things like that are important to her."

Sakura nodded: "So, we'll recommend her for promotion and the removal then?"

Hinata agreed, and added, "And Naruto-kun for promotion. I think he's earned it, don't you?"

The long spell in frequent danger, and away from her family and all the memories and habits that she had associated with them, had made Hinata more confident and decisive. And she was happier to be in a warzone, eating hasty meals, pulling long bouts of sentry duty, and risking death or injury, than being in a place of feasts, luxurious baths and soft mattresses. And having to be with her relatives. She completely agreed with the old saying, 'there's no place like home.'

_Sannin, Kage, fugitive. Orochimaru, once of Konohagakure, once of Otogakure, now master of as much land as his feet covered at each instant, looked at the wisps of smoke rising from the ventilation chimney of the last place he had stored an almost suitable replacement body to inhabit, and the needed medical staff and equipment to ensure a successful transfer. Now he'd have to risk using an even more inferior receiving unit, and a potentially damaging possession jutsu._

_He put his hand down to the ground. The heat from the still smoldering fires twenty meters below could be felt, even weeks after the attack. He knew there was no point in even checking belowground to see if there was anything worth salvaging. Everything would be ruined, and even any tunnels still standing would be just waiting for a loud footstep to come crashing down. Any of the staff who had escaped would be far away by now, setting themselves up as either petty brigands or obscure laborers, depending on how much their spirits had been broken. Except for his Cursed Ones, and his amusing experiments, he hadn't worried too much about positive loyalty in his ninjas; fear was enough to motivate the merely human ones. But that had meant that when things had gone bad only the elite had offered serious resistance, and unsupported they had died one-by-one. Now what he could have rounded up, even if he had cared to, would only be dregs, as bad as those idiots from the village he had left._

_He had despised Konoha the Weak for decades; his senile Sensei, his perverted fellow Sannin, all the teamwork-addicted ninja who didn't dare reach for greatness. All of them not worthy of anything but his scorn. But the Container… he was worthy of hate._

_Vendettas would have to be put off for another time. Now Orochimaru had wounds that somehow refused to heal (no doubt due to the corrupted chakra the Container had filled his blade with when he had attacked), and a pressing need to find a halfway suitable body to steal before this already failing one completely refused to support his existence. _

_For now he had to move fast and far, even in his damaged state. Not only pitiful Konoha was after him, there were other and more dangerous enemies from his past that he couldn't afford to meet. It was amazing to him how many people felt obligated to get in his way, and deny him the opportunity to engage in his personal researches. Perhaps he had angered some deity in another life._

_If so, he would find out which one it was, and add that name to the list of future victims._

Nara Shikaku looked up from the last completed operations order. There was a risk involved in setting the forces of Konoha into motion again, so soon after they had finished (hopefully) with Oto, but Kiri might never be so ripe again, and something had to be done with the third or so of ex-Suna ninjas who couldn't be trusted to be loyal to the Village that had defeated them and abolished the independence of their former home. Giving them to Zabuza, funding the remnants of the resistance to the Mizukage, and then allowing that weakened Village to remain nominally independent would do a lot toward mitigating the changes in the balance of power that Suna's dissolving had caused. At least it should suggest to the other Villages, great and small, that Konoha wasn't on a drive to monopolize control of the ninja world.

And frankly… the Mizukage gave Shikaku the creeps. The whole "Bloody Mist" graduation test, the Bloodline exterminations, the whole insane way things were being run there was a hint that whatever plans Yagura had were unlikely to be tolerable to any sane person. It would be better to disrupt the place before the damage it had been self-inflicting was healed.

This way potentially disruptive elements were directed away from likely enemies that would love to hire them, and a potential new ally could be put in place, protecting Konoha's eastern sea-frontiers. And at the worst, the place would be so wrecked that it wouldn't be a danger for some years anyway. The only real drawback would occur if Zabuza and his troops (and subsidy) would make common cause with the Mizukage, and join in a conspiracy with Iwa or Kumo. But Yaguara was unlikely to be so forgiving, or Zabuza so trusting for that to happen. And there were some very significant strings that Konoha had attached to Zabuza, anyway.

Shikaku put his head down onto the Hokage's desk. All this thinking and uncertainty hurt his brain. He tried to think happy thoughts:

Orochimaru was on the run, and it was unlikely that anyone would ever trust him enough to give him refuge. Asuma had done well, and the plans for him were proceeding as smoothly as possible. With the ex-Suna ninja that looked like they were reliable, Konoha was almost as strong as it had been before the Kyubi had visited last. Almost all the damage to the Village defenses had been repaired and emergency stores had started to be built up again. Shikamaru was finally beginning to notice girls, and Uzumaki Naruto would be out of his hair for a few years, starting in the summer.

There, that had been refreshing!

Author's notes:

At this point "A Teacher's Glory" wraps up. The story of the members of what had been Team Seven and their friends will be continued in a story tentatively to be called "The Hiltless Blade," wherein Powers best left undisturbed will show why.

Once again I would like to express my thanks for the hard work Nathan has done editing my often baroque writing, and bringing me back to intelligibility. Without his work my sentences would be even longer, my attempts at typographic distinction even more confusing, and none of us would have enjoyed things nearly as much as we have so far.


End file.
